A Broadway Season in Purgatory
Matthew Lopez
When The Inheritance opened on Broadway in 2019, it was instantly recognizable as an only–in–New York story. But when playwright Matthew Lopez (whose next project, an adaptation of Some Like It Hot, is eyeing a Broadway opening next fall) moved upstate to Ulster County, he discovered that inspiration can be found outside the city as well. “I used to worry that if I left New York I would go a little mad—it would be like Misery,” he says. “I’m finding that’s not the case.” Recently he has kept busy with screenwriting projects and pondering what comes after the five years he spent on The Inheritance. “This period of pause,” he says, “has allowed me to figure out those next steps a lot faster.”
Kathryn Gallagher
“I feel like actors are uniquely used to being unemployed,” says Kathryn Gallagher, the musician and star of Jagged Little Pill. But even with her show dark, Gallagher—who has been holed up in rural Connecticut—hasn’t been idle: She has been focusing on songwriting and learning the finer points of record production, and, since May, she has released two volumes of original songs. “When it comes to music, I’ve always thought I wasn’t a good enough guitarist,” she says. “Now, I still might not be a good enough guitarist, but I am the one I’ve got—so here we go.”
Patrick Vaill
New York native Patrick Vaill may be most recognizable for his turn as Jud Fry in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Oklahoma!, but when it came to weathering the recent halt in live theater and film production, there was no place like home. “It felt not only natural to stay here, but as time went on it felt crucial for me to stick with New York and to love it,” says Vaill, who appears in the upcoming TV series Dash & Lily. “It’s as simple as this: I wouldn’t know where else to be.”
Audra McDonald
It’s a good thing Audra McDonald, the Tony-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning actress and singer, is used to working with ensembles. Since she has been quarantined in Westchester County, McDonald has balanced professional obligations—including an upcoming performance of A Streetcar Named Desire for Audible—with living in a house filled with four children. “Time to ourselves to be creative,” she says, “has been very little.” Still, she has managed not only to learn Blanche DuBois’s famous lines but also to launch Black Theatre United, an advocacy organization she co-founded earlier this year. “I feel as though I’m able to focus more on being active as opposed to grief-stricken,” she says. “It’s helpful to feel that I’m participating in trying to move the needle.”
Michael Arden
When the writer, actor, and director Michael Arden left New York City last spring for the Hudson Valley, he found himself wondering what he could do both to find a creative outlet and to help local businesses in their own moment of crisis. “I wondered,” he says, “was there a way I could build something safe for audiences and invigorate the community?” The result was American Dream Study, a site-specific, socially distant theater experience directed by Arden that benefited small local establishments. “We wanted to show that art is possible,” Arden says, “even in the bleakest of moments.”
Shereen Pimentel
There’s more than one stage that Shereen Pimentel, who plays Maria in the recent revival of West Side Story, has missed appearing on. Not only did the musical go dark in March, but in May the 21-year-old’s graduation from the Juilliard School was held virtually. “I was sad when I found out,” she says, “but I got a graduation gown and walked around Manhattan taking pictures. It still happened.” Her creativity has been equally undeterred: Recently she has focused on skills such as songwriting, and in August she appeared in Broadway Whodunit?, an interactive murder mystery series. “I want to take this opportunity to see how my art flourishes.”
Michael R. Jackson
Earlier this year Michael R. Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his musical A Strange Loop. More recently he’s been in Williamstown, Massachusetts, researching a decidedly different project. “It’s a horror movie set in a place similar to Williamstown,” he says. “It’s not a roman à clef, but I’ve been here absorbing the town and making notes about the story I want to tell.” That’s not all: Jackson is also running virtual workshops for a new musical, White Girl in Danger, and tinkering with Loop in advance of a possible Broadway run. It hasn’t left him with much free time, he says. “I wish I could say that I had taught myself to knit.”
Sonya Tayeh
“Prior to this pandemic I’d been gifted with the freedom to hold someone,” says Sonya Tayeh, the choreographer of Moulin Rouge! and Sing Street, which pushed its opening until late 2021. “I’m all alone now. A lot of us are.” But Tayeh perseveres; she has been collaborating with dancer Robbie Fairchild and musician Moses Sumney on a new work, and she has made her Brooklyn rooftop a place to dance en plein air. “Because I love dance, I have to do it or I don’t exist,” she says. “Knowing how my discipline has
carried me here, it will carry me now through this.”
How to Help
Arts workers are in crisis. People who make their living from the performing arts—onstage or behind the scenes, on Broadway or in regional theaters—are struggling amid widespread unemployment. Organizations like the Actors Fund provide financial assistance to anyone working in the industry. Donate today to help ensure theater’s safe, essential return.
This article appeared in the October 2020 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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