2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Yes, COVID is still affecting theater in 2025. Here's the latest postponement
COVID is still delaying theatrical productions, even in 2025.
Marin Theatre was scheduled to open 'Do You Feel Anger?' on Tuesday, June 10. But five hours before the curtain was supposed to rise on Mara Nelson-Greenberg's office satire, the theater announced the night's show was canceled.
Publicist Carla Befera told the Chronicle that the show's star tested positive for COVID. The earliest the theater would resume performances is Sunday, June 15, she added; opening night is rescheduled for Tuesday, June 17.
The Mill Valley theater isn't alone. In April, Carlos Santana postponed tour dates following a COVID diagnosis.
Current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for respiratory viruses state that the sick can resume normal activities once their symptoms are improving and they've been fever-free without medical aid for at least 24 hours.
Confusingly, those same guidelines go on to say that even with normal activities, staying away from other people (the distance is unspecified) is 'encouraged.'
While some Bay Area theaters including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater and San Francisco Playhouse employ understudies for main stage shows, the practice is not universal. It's particularly rare in an era of ongoing retrenchment, with many companies producing fewer or smaller-cast shows and many others closing or suspending production.
Marin Theatre's move suggests that even if some of the theater world's pandemic-era norms are fading, one consequence is lasting: the scrutiny of the industry's famous 'show must go on' ethos. Canceling performances was all but unheard of in 2019. Five years after the shelter-in-place order, audiences, theater artists and administrators still don't believe that an actor must force an ailing body to work at all costs.
