Posted: 6/15/21 at 1:13pm
Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere but I did not find it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/theater/touring-shows-reopening-agreement.html
Updated On: 6/18/21 at 01:13 PM
Posted: 6/16/21 at 8:29pm
After reading the Times' story in particular, cynical though this view may be, I feel increasingly that these protocols are largely for show, to preserve the billions in ticket sales and lull the especially cautious into a false sense of security. A few of them look like the right move on the surface, but some appear impossible to enforce, even with a designated compliance officer.
For example: someone explain to me who the hell will stand there and make absolutely sure hair and makeup wear masks, shields, and gloves, and switch gloves between each cast member they work on. More than that, who's paying for that position and how much? Lapses will occur and be overlooked as a matter of backstage efficiency and financial expediency. I also see a lot of both discrimination and wrongful firing suits coming down the pike with that whole bit about how "the company must be fully vaccinated and tested weekly, masked and socially distanced 24/7 wherever it doesn't interfere with the job, and can be fined or fired for not following the rules, but disability or religious belief may make you exempt... if the producers accommodate you," and, for that reason, I suspect that will often be honored in the breach, whether that fact reaches the public or not.
I think it will be perhaps hardest of all to enforce the clause about requiring of potential venues that their audiences be masked and distanced, especially as states continue to open up in droves. What promoter is gonna sell that to their subscribers? (I'm thinking in particular of certain states where vaccination and mask mandates have met with no small opposition.) No one is going to want to lock out their biggest markets.
All things considered, I think it's way too early to be opening up, all the way around, in many places in North America, and I fear whatever happens in the summer and fall will prove me right in saying the League should have stuck with the initially planned January 2022 re-opening at the earliest.
Updated On: 6/16/21 at 08:29 PM
Posted: 6/16/21 at 9:36pm
g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "After reading the Times' story in particular, cynical though this view may be, I feel increasingly that these protocols are largely for show, to preserve the billions in ticket sales and lull the especially cautious into a false sense of security. A few of them look like the right move on the surface, but some appear impossible to enforce, even with a designated compliance officer.
For example: someone explain to me who the hell will stand there and make absolutely sure hair and makeup wear masks, shields, and gloves, and switch gloves between each cast member they work on. More than that, who's paying for that position and how much? Lapses will occur and be overlooked as a matter of backstage efficiency and financial expediency. I also see a lot of both discrimination and wrongful firing suits coming down the pike with that whole bit about how "the company must be fully vaccinated and tested weekly, masked and socially distanced 24/7 wherever it doesn't interfere with the job, and can be fined or fired for not following the rules, but disability or religious belief may make you exempt... if the producers accommodate you," and, for that reason, I suspect that will often be honored in the breach, whether that fact reaches the public or not.
I think it will be perhaps hardest of all to enforce the clause about requiring of potential venues that their audiences be masked and distanced, especially as states continue to open up in droves. What promoter is gonna sell that to their subscribers? (I'm thinking in particular of certain states where vaccination and mask mandates have met with no small opposition.) No one is going to want to lock out their biggest markets.
All things considered, I think it's way too early to be opening up, all the way around, in many places in North America, and I fear whatever happens in the summer and fall will prove me right in saying the League should have stuck with the initially planned January 2022 re-opening at the earliest."
You seem to be veering in several directions at once. That's not to suggest you are drunk, but the subject is one that requires a lot of wrestling. I think the touring rules still seem a bit much by NYC standards, but you highlight the reason: one agreement has to cover everything from Vermont to Texas. These rules are not really required everywhere, but they are required where covid has long been disrespected and where it will likely flare up in the fall, just as these tours are getting in full swing. We shall see. One other passing comment: the league is really a spectator in all this. They don't set dates. Also, I don't think anyone was talking about a January start. All along the talk has been October which we are moving up some obviously. Again, we shall see. And that health monitor, even if only partially window dressing, is a lot cheaper than shutting down for a week when there is a breakthough infection.
