🔒With audiences more bullish about live performances, CT theaters eye reopening dates

As Connecticut’s vaccine rollout continues and with the state ready to essentially eliminate restrictions on businesses this month, theatergoers are starting to show a willingness to return to performing-arts venues, which could signal a recovery ahead for a key industry that’s been hit hard by the pandemic.

The latest monthly statistics from Audience Outlook Monitor (AOM) — a global survey of theaters, museums and other arts spaces, including venues in Connecticut — show for the first time a dramatic increase in peoples’ willingness to return to their favorite indoor arts spots.

The March survey found as many as 46% of Northeast audience respondents said they are willing to go to indoor arts events right now, following mask requirements and other safety guidelines, an uptick of nine percentage points compared to February.

Meantime, 70% of Northeast audience respondents said they see themselves returning to venues by September and 80% say “yes” to an October return.

Those numbers, Connecticut theater executives say, are promising and may even prompt some venues to reopen earlier than anticipated.

At stake is a key part of the state’s economy, which has been largely sidelined since the start of the pandemic.

The Connecticut arts and culture industry accounts for about 5% of the state’s GDP — or about $9 billion in economic activity — and supports about 57,000 jobs, more than half of which have been shed over the past year, according to federal data and the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition.

“It’s a whole different ball game,” says Alan Brown, principle of WolfBrown, an international arts consulting and research firm that created the study to track audience attitudes on such topics as returning to the theater, digital offerings and vaccinations. “I am now guardedly optimistic.”

Welcome news

Connecticut theater leaders say they are encouraged by the new data, the high vaccination rate in this state, and Gov. Ned Lamont’s efforts to allow businesses to reopen.

On May 19, Connecticut is scheduled to roll back all restrictions on businesses, including capacity limits on indoor events, giving theaters and other entertainment venues a clear sightline on when they can reopen their doors.

“I think [the data] supports our plans for a re-opening, which now we’re looking at the fall to be back indoors,” says Cynthia Ryder, managing director of Hartford Stage.

Ryder said she thinks it will be possible for Hartford Stage to open at full capacity this fall, but the theater’s 2021-2022 season will still be “transitional.”

“There’s a lot of data out there that shows that after such a major event, it takes a while, years in fact, to return to the same attendance levels,” said Ryder, whose theater attracts 80,000 paid attendees in a typical year. “So while I have no doubt that our most loyal people — our subscribers and those who really love us — will be there, it may take a little longer for the more casual ticket-buyer — or they may not come as often. I hope that’s not true and we’ll get back quickly to full attendance, but I think we have to be realistic that it’s going to be a gradual improvement and it will not be a turn-the-switch moment when they’re all back the next day.”

Ryder is holding off announcing Hartford Stage’s 2021-22 season, perhaps as late as June. The theater is “definitely moving ahead with our summer education program, some in person, some virtual and some a hybrid, depending on the age group. Last summer it was all virtual,” she said.

Florie Seery, managing director of Yale Repertory Theatre, which participated in the study, said he is also encouraged by the latest round of monthly data.

“I think the numbers are great,” says Seery. “I think people may have some trepidation but they’re basing their decision on the science and the science is saying if you’re vaccinated you can be in a theater.”

Timelines changing

The positive news is causing one New Haven theater to move up its reopening timeline.

“We can see how we can come back into the community with each other now,” says Kit Ingui, managing director of Long Wharf Theatre, which also participated in the study. “Two months ago, we were projecting that we would not start in-person performances until January 2022, but now we’ve changed that to this fall — and potentially earlier. We definitely think we will engage outside, whether late spring or summer.”

Michael Barker, managing director of Westport Country Playhouse, another participant in the study, says peoples’ willingness to return to the theater is the most important aspect of the survey.

“The numbers before this were pretty sticky,” he says. “This is unequivocally good news.”

Barker and other industry executives warned, however, that theaters won’t be able to just flip the switch and welcome back audiences.

It will take time for theaters to plan, bring back staff, rehearse, get ticket sales started, etc., before they can put on productions. They also have to work with outside parties, including the Actors Equity Association labor union, which represents theater actors and stage managers, to make sure they are comfortable resuming work, Barker said.

The Westport theater, which begins its season in late spring, is on a different schedule than other performance venues in the state. It’s presenting online content for 2021 and now anticipates returning next spring to live productions, Barker said.

Still wary

Another bright spot in the data is that the theater audience tends to be getting vaccinated.

In fact, 68% of Northeast audience respondents said they were at least partially vaccinated and more than 90% of audience members 65 and older — a core group for many arts organizations — said the same thing.

A few areas of concern raised by theatergoers is the impact non-vaccinated people might have and how long the vaccine’s immunity will last.

“My biggest concern is that we’re just not going to reach the level of vaccinations nationally to get to herd immunity,” said Brown, the survey’s author. “There’s one scenario where we’ll have continuing levels of COVID infections, hospitalizations and rolling restrictions where governors ratchet up or down the percentage of indoor capacity. That’s what’s happening in Australia with people not buying tickets because of the fear of cancellations. That would be a nightmare.”

For TheaterWorks Hartford, flexibility is the key no matter which direction the data swings.

“For us, we’re going forward with very conservative estimates in terms of people’s comfort with coming into our space, but designing it so we have the ability to pivot and open the doors broader if people feel that that’s more in their comfort level,” said Freddie McInerny, TheaterWorks’ director of marketing and communications. “People are also waiting to see how successful the vaccinations are with the variances. But the ball is moving fast down the field and I think that’s a reflection of the success nationally — and in Connecticut in particular — of the vaccination rollout.”