173 - The COVID Theater Think Tank That's Figuring Out How to Let the Show Go On
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2020
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
COVID-19 drew the curtain on live theater across the country, putting 90% of the industry out of work. Producer and publicist Matt Ross is part of a COVID Theatre Think Tank, a research group of actors, directors, musicians, and many other industry professionals. Ross talks with Stephanie Desmon about how the group works closely with public health experts and advisors to "interpret the science for the field" and provides guidance on thinking about ways to safely resume some performances, considering factors like testing protocols, mask requirements, and ventilation. "The field thrives on creativity and innovation," Ross says. "[Our] responsibility is to provide the logistical and the science side."
KEYWORDS: performing arts; pandemic response; unemployment
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Season 2 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins |
| 0:11.6 | Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 0:13.6 | I'm Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, |
| 0:18.8 | and a former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. |
| 0:21.8 | Our goal is to bring scientific evidence and experience to the public health news of the day |
| 0:27.3 | through informative interviews with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public health |
| 0:32.7 | officials, clinicians, and more. If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at |
| 0:39.8 | Public Health Question at jhhhu.edu. That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future |
| 0:47.2 | podcast episodes. Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Matt Ross, a New York theater publicist and producer who is working with a team of people to figure out how and when we can safely go back to the theater. |
| 1:03.0 | They're developing guidelines for COVID shuttered theaters around the country and trying to find creative ways to get people back to work. |
| 1:10.0 | Let's listen. |
| 1:12.5 | Matt Ross, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. So I want to talk to you |
| 1:17.6 | about the work you've been doing. I understand that you are part of an effort to find a way to |
| 1:26.0 | reopen theater from the regional theater all the way up to Broadway. |
| 1:30.2 | Talk to me about these efforts and why they're so important. |
| 1:34.5 | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 1:35.6 | And I should preface by saying, I think there are a lot of people working. |
| 1:38.3 | I know that there are a lot of people who are working on these efforts at every level. |
| 1:42.0 | So, you know, when I founded this group, which we call the COVID Theater Think Tank, |
| 1:46.9 | it was with a couple of specific things in mind, one of which is to draw from many different |
| 1:54.0 | types and levels of theater, as you mentioned, theaters across the country, small spaces, |
| 1:59.7 | off-Broadway, Broadway, and try and find the sort of |
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