Regional Spotlight: How Fault Line Theatre is Working Through the Global Health Crisis

Now more than ever it is important to support theater and do our part to keep the art form that we love so much alive and as thriving as it can be during these unprecedented times. While the global health crisis has temporarily put the theater world on hold, pausing all live performances and large gatherings to help stop the spread of COVID-19, theaters around the country have taken a hit. During this time of adjusting to our temporary new normal, theaters are figuring out how to take care of their team, and discovering the best ways to virtually bring theater to audiences.

Through our regional theater interview series, we are checking in with theaters all around the country, talking to them about how they are handling these difficult circumstances, learning what they are doing to move forward, and discovering the best way for people to help regional theaters during this time.

Today we're checking in with Fault Line Theatre!

First of all, I want to check in on the health and well-being of everyone at Fault Line Theatre. How is everyone doing during this difficult time?

Happy, healthy, and mostly sane. No major emergencies or health crises, although I am a little concerned about my cheese and ice cream consumption. Those curves have not yet flattened.

2. What do the days look like right now for those who work at Fault Line Theatre?

Simple and uncomplicated. We are still paying the bills, managing budgets and cash flow, writing grants, keeping up with our supporters, and trying to figure out what this all means for us as artists and Fault Line as an institution. We're also checking in on our colleagues, friends, and families; reading lots of plays, novels, and comic books; playing video games and watching movies.

3. How much planning is going on both short term and long term for the theater?

We will continue to shelter in place until the city reopens, and more specifically until our office at ART/NY reopens. Our new play development series Irons in the Fire has five scripts that will receive workshops as soon as we can reschedule them. A few of them have had some online rehearsals which has been a welcome oasis, but we're letting our writers and directors guide us with their needs and wants. We are not insisting on holding rehearsals or presentations as scheduled. The real work happens in the rehearsal studio and in front of a live audience, there is no substitute.

Our mainstage production Twenty-Twenty: A Play by Alix Sobler is scheduled to premiere in October of this year. Whether or not that happens is hard to say, and I don't want to speculate too much. What I know is that eventually all of our work this season will get done, all of our plays will be workshopped, all of our artists will be paid, and this production will happen. Come hell or high water, the work will get done and it will be seen.

Do you have plans to bring any previously filmed productions/upcoming events/classes etc. online?

Yes! For the last few weeks we've been sharing some new work from Fault Line Theatre's Family of Artists, and it has been so much fun. The series is called [...] in the Time of Corona. We've paired up writers and actors and had them toss ideas around, grab their phones, and shoot a story, monologue, poem, or mini-play with the goal of bringing some clarity, pathos, or levity to our lives.

Artists need to create, and we're proud to give our family a digital canvas on which to paint their stories.

We release a new piece every Tuesday and Friday on our various feeds: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

What is the best way for people to help Fault Line Theatre right now?

Coronavirus disproportionately affects under-served populations throughout the city and all over the world. They need help more than Fault Line Theatre does. The elderly are trapped alone in their apartments and need help ordering and paying for their groceries, the virus is running rampant through our overcrowded prisons and jails, and food banks around the country need all the assistance they can get. Let's help them.

And wear a mask, wash your hands often, continue to social distance, order directly from your favorite neighborhood businesses, and turn to the local artists you love and support them--most of them recently lost their jobs.

Learn more about the theatre at faultlinetheatre.org. Click HERE to donate!