Actors' Equity Approves Indoor Productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Fully Committed & More

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the Actors’ Equity Association has already approved the reopening of the Massachusetts-based Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Theatre Group. The organization is also working with the Broadway company of Diana to ensure that the musical's Netflix taping follows proper health and safety guidelines. Now, The New York Times reports that AEA has given approval to three New England non-profits to run indoor performances.

With COVID-19 cases controlled or low in the region, AEA has approved shows for the Weathervane Theater in New Hampshire, Music Theater of Connecticut in Norwalk and Northern Stage in Vermont. The Weathervane plans on producing a comedy called Miracle on South Division Street, the Kander and Ebb musical revue The World Goes ’Round and a seven-actor version of Little Shop of Horrors with limited contact between the performers—meaning Audrey and Seymour will not be able to kiss. The 266-seat venue will only have 44 seats for sale. The theater company owns a 62-room inn that normally houses actors; over 20 staff members and performers have been quarantining there since June. Masks will be required for patrons as they move through the theater but optional when audience members are seated and socially distanced.

Music Theater of Connecticut will stage the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Matt Densky, for an in-person audience of 25 and an online audience of 85. This reaches the venue's usual capacity of 110 seats total; the in-person audience must be masked.

Northern Stage will present the one-woman show It’s Fine, I’m Fine, an autobiographical play about career-ending soccer concussions, written and performed by Stephanie Everett. Only 44 masked audience members will be allowed into the 240-seat venue.

As previously reported, AEA has retained safety consultant Dr. David Michaels, who served as the administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under former President Barack Obama, to advise the union to develop the steps necessary for reopening Broadway and theaters across the country. The organization has since released guiding principals for reopening theaters as well as more detailed pre-production guidelines to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.