Should theatres be required to submit COVID-19 safety protocols in order to secure licensing rights?

Short Answer: I don’t know, there’s merit on both sides of the argument.

But in recent weeks, with theatres side-stepping AEA’s safety protocols and the COVID-19 outbreak among a community theatre cast of Mamma Mia, there has been a lot of discussion about what can be done to prevent theatres that are being unsafe, from producing shows.

An idea that I’ve seen gaining steam on social media is for safety protocols to be approved by licensing companies in order to secure rights to do the show.

It’s an intriguing and radical suggestion. If a theatre wants to be able to perform In the Heights or Crimes of the Heart they first have to show how they plan on keeping everyone involved with production safe from COVID-19. If their plan isn’t approved, no rights.

Such a policy could help provide oversight to theatre organizations who typically don’t have any oversight, to begin with.

While a local theatre could simply get approval from their local governments or health departments, we’ve seen how local officials decide these protocols based on political leanings. What one county might think is safe, might not be safe at all according to the CDC.

If MTI or Concord Theatricals were to require theatres to abide by safety protocols based on CDC recommendations, then that might go a long way in helping to prevent the coronavirus from being spread so quickly.

There would have to be a ton of logistics to be hammered out before these companies took such an action. They would likely have to get approval from the creative teams, hire a team to handle reviewing the safety plans, etc. There’s also a strong chance that with so many logistics needed, an idea like this might not be adopted at all.

Also, theatres could submit the perfect safety protocol, but there’s no guarantee they would actually follow through on it. North Platte Community Playhouse said they would socially distance and wear masks, they didn’t. Now 24 of their cast and crew tested positive for COVID-19.

In my opinion, the push I’ve seen by community theatres to resume operations has been way too fast. Given the close proximity of the work involved as well as accounting for the audience, I don’t think such environments should return until after a vaccine is available. If it isn’t safe for Broadway or the West End to resume, it’s definitely not safe for local theatres.

But that’s not going to stop those theatres from resuming operations. Having another step of approval might help get similar theatres in line with the right way to protect everyone involved with the production and those coming to see it.