The Impact of Coronavirus on Theater Education
Lauren Knight, Features Writer
Niki Hatzidis, Features Editor
As I sat in a small lecture hall for my Journalism Ethics course, I kept my phone in my lap, texting my mom back and forth about the rumors milling around regarding the closure of our campus in light of the coronavirus outbreak. With the announcement of campus closures from UCLA and UCSD, many of my classmates wondered if UC Irvine would follow in suit of other schools in the UC system.
Before class started, my friend leaned over to me and asked if I wanted to be a member of her sorority for a second, then seconds later, passed me her phone with her sorority’s Facebook page open. One of her sisters said that a UCI student was currently getting tested for coronavirus, and it was only a matter of time before the university would have to issue a statement and inevitably, close the campus.
Soon enough, the phone in my lap lit up with an email from the UCI Chancellor, confirming the students of the rumor that I had heard 30 minutes prior. A UCI student was, in fact, getting tested for coronavirus, but the lab had no confirmed results yet.
27 minutes later, another email interrupted class. This one detailed the “social distancing” that the university would be following, moving finals week, and our Spring quarter to online classes. Suddenly my class with a strict no-phones policy lit up with the glare of screens as people opened the email one-by-one. My professor never stopped lecturing. He didn’t even know until one of my classmates interrupted to make the announcement. We went right back to talking about ethics as if nothing happened. A later email explained that the student tested negative, but the policies would remain intact.
While I am a Literary Journalism student in the School of Humanities, I am also a Drama student at Claire Trevor School of the Arts. While my journalism classmates all began to worry about the announcement, I couldn’t help but think about how the arts campus must look at the moment. I imagined the Green Room Café in dead silence, and dance classes all sitting on the floor mid-rehearsal as professors read the email aloud. I thought about the loud laughter that normally echoes through the quad and how the laughs must have turned into panicked, nervous chatter. I sat in my lecture hall, thinking about the logistics of a school within UCI that cannot function online.
That’s the thing about theater education: it relies on interpersonal connections. I can’t work on blocking with my classmates on Zoom, I can’t reach out and touch the hand of my scene partner through a computer screen. My classmates can’t dance in the living rooms of their small apartments, and my friends can’t direct their projects from a video conference with all of their cast and crew.
I think about the designers sitting with their renderings and wondering if anyone will see their work now that productions are canceled. I think about the seniors who finally got cast in a mainstage production and now will never get to be in a college production. I think about the graduate students whose degrees depend on their theses that may not be staged anymore. I think about the students with crippling loan debt who will be paying the same amount of tuition money to sit in their rooms and try to improve dance technique with no professor to correct them.
I think about the students with old phones trying to record self-tapes and the students without laptops or access to computers at all. I think about the dancers who will have no audiences to perform to, no applause echoing through the performance hall when the number ends. I think about the dust that will build up on the walls of the black box theater and the ghost light that eventually gets turned off by a janitor, or maybe flickers out as the bulb dies. I think about all of these things because someone has to.
I understand that as this progresses, social distancing will be the best means of preventing the spread of coronavirus on college campuses. I know that we are practically living on top of one another, sitting in lecture halls and dance studios, and constantly interacting with other students through physical touch.
However, the idea of “virtual classrooms” and the decision to turn to online instruction is one that will specifically impact arts students in a way that doesn’t seem to resonate outside of the arts school. I can write journalism papers from home, and while it will be an adjustment, I can turn on my laptop and watch my journalism professors lecture on video chat. My education as a journalism student will not be difficult, but my education as a drama student will be nearly impossible.
When the Broadway League released its decision regarding the closure of Broadway theaters until April 12(now extended to September 6th), many performers felt the complete panic of understanding the logistics of how this closure will impact their jobs. I felt the same panic as I walked onto the arts campus after my class let out, only to find the mid-afternoon sun beating down on the coveted cushioned patio chairs that now remain empty. I took a seat by one of the popular outdoor rehearsal spots and sat listening to my foot tap against the bench as I wondered when I would see the arts campus full of life again.
Lauren Knight is a theater journalist and may be reached at laureneknight1@gmail.com.