Pushing Through Chaos in New York (Experience #5)
04-03-2020
While the country was still trying to figure out what to do about COVID-19, I was in the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, New York City, for Spring Break. It wasn't as if I had recklessly decided to say "screw it" and take a trip to New York just for fun. I was in the city with all of my fellow senior performance majors for Theatre TCU's annual Senior Showcase. I've described it in one of my previous blogs, but for those of you who haven't read that particular blog post:
We arrived in New York on Tuesday March 10, in the afternoon where we checked into our hotel and attended a workshop in the evening. Though the city was a bit less bustling than usual, everything seemed to be relatively normal aside from the few people in the airport wearing masks and/or gloves.
All of us were excited to present what we'd been working on with our partners since August. We had one closed showcase and two open showcases planned for Thursday, and we had somewhere between thirty and forty industry professionals (agents, managers, etc.) who were planning to be in attendance. We spent Wednesday in workshops, developing our skills and making connections with several casting directors. Though, we were hearing some concerning news. At least one usher at two Broadway houses had tested positive for COVID-19, and people were growing concerned about the safety of attending the theatre. Throughout the country, it seemed, people were growing more and more concerned about the dangers of the coronavirus. Wednesday was also the day we received Chancellor Boschini's email about the extension of Spring Break into the following week and the plans to conduct online classes until April 3. Nevertheless, we were determined to keep our spirits up--we had been working tirelessly for months in preparation for our showcases. It was the culmination of our work as performance majors over the past three and a half years, and we were going to make everything work out.
Thursday, however, did not go according to plan. We arrived at our showcase venue to run through our performance in the morning before heading over to our studio for our closed showcase. A closed showcase consists of a small handful of industry professionals (three agents, in our case) watching each set of partners work and giving immediate feedback on what they liked and what they thought could use improvement. When we arrived, only two out of our three agents were there. After waiting for a few minutes, we began--our schedule for the day was tight, after all. However, a few minutes into the showcase, the third agent arrived, explaining that things had been crazy all morning. That was when I discovered the mayor of New York had shut down all Broadway performances in venues capable of holding over 500 people. It was quite a surprise to say the least. As we settled back down after receiving the news, we pressed forward. We needed to remain calm and present our work in the moment, rather than worrying about the implications of that news.
The way our particular closed showcase was set up had each set of partners performing their set, receiving their feedback, and leaving the studio to either go back to the hotel or our showcase venue. As my partner and I were third from last, we lingered in the studio much longer than some of our friends. Around 5:00, near the end of the closed showcase, our coordinator burst into the room and told our professor that they were working out what to do. That was when the few of us left to perform found out that our open showcase venue had been shut down along with the rest of the Broadway houses as the building itself could hold over 500 people. That was enough to stir some panic to say the least, given that our first open showcase was supposed to start at 5:30.
Though we now had a whole new set of nerves to deal with, those of us left returned to the task at hand. I knew I had to focus on my voice and my lines. I had to keep my cool until I got my feedback, and then I could get to my phone and figure out what on earth was going on. I finished my task and hurried out of the room to assess the situation as calmly as possible, trying to push down the frantic feelings bubbling up inside me. I stepped outside our closed showcase room to find our coordinator in full on command mode. She was rearranging rooms and chairs to set up a performance space for us inside the studio. She was inspiring to watch, managing all the chaos around her and finding a solution despite it all. Her taking charge and giving us direction is the main reason we were able to press on.
And press on we did. Despite the venue change a mere thirty minutes before showtime, we managed to start on time. Our audience was much smaller than anticipated, though that was to be expected. Our second open showcase went off without a hitch, and the audience was slightly bigger, too. We managed to pull ourselves together and accomplish our goal, simply not in the way we expected. Because of the theaters shutting down and the venue change, we didn't have nearly as many industry guests. In fact, I believe we only had about seven or eight in attendance. Still, we all told ourselves, it was better than not having a showcase at all.
We still had one more thing planned for the night: an 11:30 performance at Feinstein's/54 Below. It hadn't been shut down--it holds only a little over 100 people--and we were able to hold our culminating cabaret. It was a wonderful way to end a chaotic day. I'll put a video at the bottom if you're interested in watching.
We made it through our chaotic day relatively smoothly, all things considered. It was a sort of trial-by-fire for us to see if we could handle the unexpected and manage to still put on a successful show. I think we passed. We didn't let ourselves be overwhelmed by the situation. We kept our calm and acknowledged when we needed to differ to those who knew more than us. And through it all, we managed to keep an optimistic outlook on things. So what if things didn't go quite the way we planned? It was better than not being able to do it at all.
While the country was still trying to figure out what to do about COVID-19, I was in the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, New York City, for Spring Break. It wasn't as if I had recklessly decided to say "screw it" and take a trip to New York just for fun. I was in the city with all of my fellow senior performance majors for Theatre TCU's annual Senior Showcase. I've described it in one of my previous blogs, but for those of you who haven't read that particular blog post:
All twenty three BFA Performance Majors (Acting and Musical Theatre) in the theatre department...spend our Spring Break in New York City attending workshops and presenting our showcase to agents and casting directors in the hopes that we will learn something new and maybe even have someone take an interest in one of us.Our professors had been keeping us up to date on developments in the city. The faculty had met about it, and one of our professors even had a meeting with us to discuss any possible concerns. By the end of it all, it had been determined that we would follow through on our plans and feel things out as we went along, taking as many precautions as possible.
We arrived in New York on Tuesday March 10, in the afternoon where we checked into our hotel and attended a workshop in the evening. Though the city was a bit less bustling than usual, everything seemed to be relatively normal aside from the few people in the airport wearing masks and/or gloves.
All of us were excited to present what we'd been working on with our partners since August. We had one closed showcase and two open showcases planned for Thursday, and we had somewhere between thirty and forty industry professionals (agents, managers, etc.) who were planning to be in attendance. We spent Wednesday in workshops, developing our skills and making connections with several casting directors. Though, we were hearing some concerning news. At least one usher at two Broadway houses had tested positive for COVID-19, and people were growing concerned about the safety of attending the theatre. Throughout the country, it seemed, people were growing more and more concerned about the dangers of the coronavirus. Wednesday was also the day we received Chancellor Boschini's email about the extension of Spring Break into the following week and the plans to conduct online classes until April 3. Nevertheless, we were determined to keep our spirits up--we had been working tirelessly for months in preparation for our showcases. It was the culmination of our work as performance majors over the past three and a half years, and we were going to make everything work out.
Thursday, however, did not go according to plan. We arrived at our showcase venue to run through our performance in the morning before heading over to our studio for our closed showcase. A closed showcase consists of a small handful of industry professionals (three agents, in our case) watching each set of partners work and giving immediate feedback on what they liked and what they thought could use improvement. When we arrived, only two out of our three agents were there. After waiting for a few minutes, we began--our schedule for the day was tight, after all. However, a few minutes into the showcase, the third agent arrived, explaining that things had been crazy all morning. That was when I discovered the mayor of New York had shut down all Broadway performances in venues capable of holding over 500 people. It was quite a surprise to say the least. As we settled back down after receiving the news, we pressed forward. We needed to remain calm and present our work in the moment, rather than worrying about the implications of that news.
The way our particular closed showcase was set up had each set of partners performing their set, receiving their feedback, and leaving the studio to either go back to the hotel or our showcase venue. As my partner and I were third from last, we lingered in the studio much longer than some of our friends. Around 5:00, near the end of the closed showcase, our coordinator burst into the room and told our professor that they were working out what to do. That was when the few of us left to perform found out that our open showcase venue had been shut down along with the rest of the Broadway houses as the building itself could hold over 500 people. That was enough to stir some panic to say the least, given that our first open showcase was supposed to start at 5:30.
Though we now had a whole new set of nerves to deal with, those of us left returned to the task at hand. I knew I had to focus on my voice and my lines. I had to keep my cool until I got my feedback, and then I could get to my phone and figure out what on earth was going on. I finished my task and hurried out of the room to assess the situation as calmly as possible, trying to push down the frantic feelings bubbling up inside me. I stepped outside our closed showcase room to find our coordinator in full on command mode. She was rearranging rooms and chairs to set up a performance space for us inside the studio. She was inspiring to watch, managing all the chaos around her and finding a solution despite it all. Her taking charge and giving us direction is the main reason we were able to press on.
And press on we did. Despite the venue change a mere thirty minutes before showtime, we managed to start on time. Our audience was much smaller than anticipated, though that was to be expected. Our second open showcase went off without a hitch, and the audience was slightly bigger, too. We managed to pull ourselves together and accomplish our goal, simply not in the way we expected. Because of the theaters shutting down and the venue change, we didn't have nearly as many industry guests. In fact, I believe we only had about seven or eight in attendance. Still, we all told ourselves, it was better than not having a showcase at all.
We still had one more thing planned for the night: an 11:30 performance at Feinstein's/54 Below. It hadn't been shut down--it holds only a little over 100 people--and we were able to hold our culminating cabaret. It was a wonderful way to end a chaotic day. I'll put a video at the bottom if you're interested in watching.
We made it through our chaotic day relatively smoothly, all things considered. It was a sort of trial-by-fire for us to see if we could handle the unexpected and manage to still put on a successful show. I think we passed. We didn't let ourselves be overwhelmed by the situation. We kept our calm and acknowledged when we needed to differ to those who knew more than us. And through it all, we managed to keep an optimistic outlook on things. So what if things didn't go quite the way we planned? It was better than not being able to do it at all.
Crazy to look back and see how everything was in NYC just a month ago! Glad the performances still went well and made it back to healthy
ReplyDeleteWow! First of all, that was an incredible performance. You are so talented. What a hectic experience for you to go through and still perform despite everything. Truly a great example of "the show must go on" and making the best of a situation with what you have.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching the performance! I am glad that everything ended up working out. Its tough to be optimistic in situations like these, but I'm glad that you found a way!
ReplyDelete