Is live theatre ever coming back to Toronto?

A night at the theatre. It's one of a bajillion pandemic taboos, but under Ontario's new Stage 3 reopening rules, live performance is technically possible again.

And though Toronto is still creeping toward Stage 3 status, the new guidelines sketch out some performance parameters that could eventually go into effect through the city. Indoor venues will max out at 50 physically distanced patrons, for example. Performers and staff (not included in the head count) are required to keep their two metres of personal space. Singers and other, um, "breath-forward" musicians will perform behind barriers (hello, brass and woodwind sections). And under these rules, theatre — or at least some unfamiliar form of it — is theoretically poised to return.

There's just one thing: when the time comes, will live theatre actually come back?

CBC Arts checked in with four prominent theatre-makers from the city, all recent Dora Award winners: Keith Barker (artistic director at Native Earth Performing Arts), Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (A.D. at Obsidian Theatre), Santee Smith (A.D. and founder of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre) and independent director/producer Marie Farsi.

Concerning Stage 3, they're all in agreement: when it reaches Toronto, they won't be ready to put on a show. Never mind the usual long-simmering effort of bringing a work to the stage, there are other things to consider — like pandemic-proofing an entire industry, for instance.

What could that look like? They shared a few of their predictions on the future of theatre, starting with some thoughts on this biggie of a speculative question...

Will theatre as we know it ever return?

"I feel like theatres are going to be the last thing where people are allowed to congregate," says Barker, and his company, Native Earth Performing Arts, has postponed live programming through next year.

"This is a setback, for sure. I do think there's going to be a gap," he says — but Native Earth is nevertheless planning for an eventual return to their home at Aki Studio, inside Toronto's Daniels Spectrum building. The facility's already hashing out the logistics of managing live audiences, he says, and their theatre space, which typically seats around 100, could accommodate 19 patrons under the Stage 3 rules. From a financial standpoint, Barker says the company is probably better positioned than some larger theatres. Because they're already in such a small space, he says they're not as reliant on the ticket revenue.  

'As we know it' is something we've kind of thrown out of the window.- Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, artistic director of Obsidian Theatre

Elsewhere, there's plenty of optimism despite the practical challenges. "I think people will find a way to come together and support live theatre and experience that because it's really part of our culture," says Smith. "It's part of who we are. It's part of humanity." 

"I have no doubt that we'll be back," says Farsi, "but I think we have to re-examine how we are doing it and for whom we are doing it."

"I don't think it will be as we know it," says Tindyebwa Otu. "'As we know it' is something we've kind of thrown out of the window, I think."

"The big thing to me right now is 'how are we returning' versus 'will we return.'"

Safety first

If you can't protect theatre workers and patrons from the spread of COVID-19, a live show's a no-go. "I don't know if people feel comfortable enough coming to a live theatre space again," says Barker. "Like, I don't feel comfortable going into work yet." And though the public guidelines will continue to evolve, he says that executive directors and artistic directors from around the city have been developing a plan of action since the pandemic hit. 

"We're working together to make sure that protocols are happening across the board," he says. "All it takes is one person to get sick in a theatre and we have to close everything down again — or people won't trust theatres again. So I feel like everyone feels a collective sense of responsibility."

Smith says safety is one of the biggest issues on her mind — "feeling comfortable enough to be in shared space." Her tour of the Dora-winning dance/theatre production The Mush Hole was cut short by the pandemic, and Kaha:wi's programming has been postponed for at least a year. Now focused on developing new work, social distance has altered her creation process. She's found more time for research, but with IRL rehearsal off the table, the company's dancers have been forced to work online. (They share new ideas for movement via self-taped video, for example. As rules around gathering relax, they might start practicing outdoors — albeit two metres apart.)

In some cases, safety measures will have to be baked into the storytelling. Farsi, for example, is working on an original "socially distant" piece. Scheduled to premiere in Vancouver this September, the play will be staged outdoors, and she's deliberately developing it for a small cast. Another item she needs to keep in mind: "People can't touch each other." Says Farsi: "It's something that the film industry is also facing, like they're asking their writers to write scripts without kissing and without touching or they're hiring actors who have been in the same bubble. So it's just like, a whole new approach to what we do." 

Theatre won't always look like theatre

Everyone agrees: the new approach is almost definitely going to be digital, but maybe more of a digital/IRL hybrid.

"I definitely went through a period where I was just really waiting for the green light to enter a room and rehearse, but now, I'm more thinking about adaptability and flexibility in terms of how to develop new work and how to present new work," says Tindyebwa Otu. Staging a show for a reduced audience might not be economically viable, she explains — but if the company could also sell tickets to a video simulcast, it could work.

From a creative point of view, the pandemic's prompted Smith to double down on different mediums — elements she's worked with before, but which played more of a supporting role in her past productions: installation art, multimedia design, music. One piece in development, which was originally scheduled to premiere on stage in February 2021,  will now debut as a video. (A live version might be developed when the time is right.) 

At Native Earth, a radio play is in the works — a collaboration with theatre artists in New Zealand and Australia. "Since everyone's working off the internet, we've had the opportunity to work with our international collaborators," says Barker, and they're also remotely developing new projects with Indigenous artists around Canada, particularly those outside of downtown. 

As an independent artist, Farsi's gone into creation mode, teaching herself new skills (e.g. film) to keep herself pandemic-proof. "Some artists go, 'Well, I'm not a digital artist; I don't want to be doing that.'"

"But if we can find a way of keeping artists employed and learning new skills and reinventing what we do, then why not? That's been my personal philosophy."

Ditch the brick-and-mortar venues?

"This is really an opportunity to rethink outdated models of everything, including architecture," says Farsi. "That's the biggest barrier right now, and I would say it's a psychological barrier for people: when will we feel safe to be back in the indoor space with strangers?"

Outdoor performances have already begun to happen. Farsi cites one example out of Stratford, Ont.: Rebecca Northan's Sidewalk Scenes. Smith says she's currently cooking two open-air pieces that should be ready by the fall, including a drive-in production.

In the COVID sense, outdoor is better than indoor!- Santee Smith, founder of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre

"Maybe [performances] won't be at a conventional theatre," she says. "A lot of things are not going back to the old normal." Creatively speaking, though, Kaha:wi is well positioned for that switch. "We already had a land-based, site-based process," says Smith. 

"Taking our creations to the land, to sites — we will continue to do that. And in the COVID sense, outdoor is better than indoor!"

Barker says Native Earth is discussing different options, but for now, they're waiting to return to Daniels Spectrum. "For us, we want to be back in the theatre."

What kind of crowd will be waiting in the seats...presuming there are seats?

Whoever they are, it'll be a different crowd than the one from the before times. Tindyebwa Otu says new digital formats have already attracted fresh eyeballs. "How do we not lose the audiences we've gained during this time? How do we get them into the theatre and how do we keep them engaged?"

I feel like the younger generation...are going to be the first people who are going to be coming back.- Keith Barker, artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts

And Barker and Farsi predict ticket buyers will be younger than usual — if only for health-and-safety reasons. To their observation, typical theatre goers skew 50+, which would seem to be bang on (according to this Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts survey, the average age is 53).

"When you look at the [health] risks, the age group with the highest risk is the one that would tend to have the largest number of patrons," says Barker. "I feel like the younger generation — theatre-makers and audiences — are going to be the first people who are going to be coming back."

So...what's it going to take to make it happen?

Farsi is the co-founder of her own small company (Babelle Theatre), but as a theatre-maker, she's essentially a freelancer. (Her work on Crow's Theatre and Eclipse Theatre Company's Ghost Quartet won the Dora for outstanding direction.) 

"Planning seems impossible at the moment," she says, and employment is even more precarious than usual as theatre companies have paused their traditional programming indefinitely. 

If the theatre industry is going through a forced re-invention, she'd like to see this moment to become a total factory reset. And she'd like more independent artists, like herself, to have a say in the industry's evolution. Maybe that just means sharing ideas with Canadian theatre institutions, she says.

"There's some serious re-examination of how we're doing things, not just with the practicality of bringing people into a space, but with the Black Lives Matter movement," says Farsi. "There's been a re-examination of the structures of companies."

"How we're returning — that is going to be the big thing that I think that we're thinking about as an industry," says Tindyebwa Otu. "It's really about the bigger structural conversation right now. I do believe that in terms of aesthetics, there'll be some cool kind of mix of forms that emerges. [...] But the bigger dream is about making those real, really deep structural changes to our industry: to support artists and support diverse voices within."

"I've been thinking this is the time for smaller companies," says Farsi. "I do experimental work. I'm someone who really values risk in what I do."

"I think we are expected to do that now. The rules aren't the same anymore."

CBC Arts understands that this is an incredibly difficult time for artists and arts organizations across this country. We will do our best to provide valuable information, share inspiring stories of communities rising up and make us all feel as (virtually) connected as possible as we get through this together. If there's something you think we should be talking about, let us know by emailing us at cbcarts@cbc.ca. See more of our COVID-related coverage here.