Trying to Find Creativity During a Pandemic

With Covid-19 taking over the world, the year 2020 was a difficult one for many for an array of reasons. Not only were we dealing with a huge global health crisis, but we were dealing with the decline of businesses, jobs, and people’s livelihoods. Small businesses were close to permanently shutting down if they already didn’t within the first months of the pandemic. Other business’s declines would soon follow. Life was completely altered as we know it.

One of the many areas that suffered dramatically and are still not back up on its feet one year later is the invaluable world of live theatre (and live performances in general). I am a Stage Manager in live theatre. The local theater I work for temporarily shut down for the worst of the pandemic, as did all theaters throughout the United States.

What was so shattering about this decision, and I know many people in the business will agree with me on this feeling, is that what we know and love was completely pulled out from underneath us. Everything came to a screeching halt. Yes, it was for the best. Yes, it had to happen. And yes, it was for the safety of our workers, performers, and audience members, but what it left us with was a huge hole where the arts once were. This void still exists today. Luckily, during the never-ending break, we all came up with creative ideas to present performances virtually and with all cast members masked, but it still wasn’t the same. We craved that live, interactive experience inside of a theater that we never thought we would lose.

Sometimes, I watch recordings of past performances. I look at them and think to myself, “wow, what I would give to go back to that.” Back then, it was just living normally, but now we yearn for it. We would love to be able to perform freely on the stage without social distancing, have audience members sitting next to each other without masks, and shake hands or give each other a hug. These were things we took for granted only because we never thought twice about them. I still have moments where I ask myself, “how did we get here?”

Mentally, this was a lot for us to take in as artists and I personally found myself wondering how I would stay productive artistically during the quarantine. I was determined to not become lazy, so I went into a really deep reflection mode and thought about possible projects that I could take on that didn’t require other people. I was looking to take the solo route for a while. I then thought about what I love the most besides theatre and art. The answer to that question was writing. I am passionate about writing and have done it for as long as I’ve been involved in theatre. Then the idea came to my mind that I could combine both theatre and writing somehow. I did some research on self-publishing my own book and within a week or two, I was in the preliminary stages of writing my first book on what it takes to be a Stage Manager. In August of 2020, I published the book, and promoting it will be a lifelong journey.

Writing the book was how I survived the quarantine. I felt that if everything was coming to a hold, then maybe this was the time to slow down and think about what I’ve learned during my theatre career so far. We don’t get to do that very often when we’re working. Theatre tends to be fast-paced without a lot of time to ourselves, so the one positive that came out of this quarantine was being able to let things marinate in my mind and really examine how far I’ve come. The best way for me to do that was to get it all down on paper, so essentially, I wrote about what I already knew. Fortunately, this has now opened a door to writing more often in my spare time. I jumped the massive hurdle of writing a book and although sometimes I doubt if I can do it again, it’s nice to say I’ve done it at least once.

 I encourage all of you to take the time to look at the road behind you and even look at the road in front of you during this downtime in the performing arts. In addition to that, find a hobby that you love whether it’s cooking, painting, sports, or writing. Try to combine the arts into the hobby as well. That’s how my book came to be. We’re in a time where we have to really think outside of the box, so on a personal note, this is the best time to think of ways to keep your mind active artistically. Writing is a great place to begin if that’s your forte. If not, then why not try painting or sculpting? Maybe drawing?

Don’t forget these are all part of the arts and can contribute something to society. Even cooking is creating something. We need these contributions now more than ever. If we can’t be inside of a theatre together as we once could, then it’s time to find other ways to stay engaged. Luckily, most people in live theatre pursue other artistic hobbies. We tend to just be really creative people overall, so my advice is to embrace that and see where it takes you.

We are moving ahead and pushing through the barriers as best we can in terms of theatre getting back on track, but we’re not completely there yet. Take this time to pursue your interests until we can all enjoy theatre together as the incredible community that we are.