If the AEA offered companies the ability to have productions available online as well , would you consider offering them in addition to live performances ? For me , personally , I can ’ t wait to get back to live theater as usual and no longer deal with virtual and filming . I might consider streaming , if I can make it work in our space , because of the reasons you mention - theater lovers with disabilities , nighttime jobs , difficulty getting to Cape May for financial or other reasons . When scheduling Nothing Matters , I had to decide when we ’ re filming , and then give time for editing , and then getting it uploaded to YouTube , and then set up ticket sales through our website , and be responsible for the code to see the show on what night and going from “ private ” to “ public .” All of us in theater have spent time during the last few months coming up with other skill sets .
One of the biggest problems for filming , is getting the rights to plays . AND if this trend continues , SAG / AFTRA and AEA will most assuredly have to come up with mutual agreements . OR theaters might start working with SAG / AF- TRA , and not AEA at all .
Finally , ELTC has worked hard to remain active this summer with both live and virtual performances . How difficult has the year been for the company overall ? I don ’ t know one Equity professional theater that ’ s not trying to figure out how to keep going , and East Lynne Theater Company is right there with them . Back in mid-March , because we are summer driven , I was hoping we would be able to do some of our 2020 season . We were in the midst of callbacks and continued these virtually , and cast the first out of our 3 big season shows .