PHOTO : DAVID LEYES and other times where I go , “ Wow , we don ’ t matter ; nobody cares about us ,” and that ’ s really disheartening . And so , I have a huge concern about the number of people that will be gone and whether or not there will be the variety of experience left . You know , older people learn from younger people as much as younger people learn from older people , and I ’ m really worried that we ’ re going to lose that landscape in the industry .
Rossiter : I ’ ve had a number of conversations with colleagues who have found other work and who are discovering that either they ’ re making more money now , or they are making a little bit less while working a heck of a lot less and also have less stress . And I think a lot of those people may or may not come back , and they may not have an interest in it . It ’ s about the grind because of the money . It ’ s the lengths of the schedules that people are being asked to work on . Does it offer us a level of balance ? To Kim ’ s point , every time I have had the pleasure of doing something in this past year , if the schedule is akin to a traditional theatre schedule , I get to the end and am I ’ m like , “ God , we ’ re working such stupid days .”
MacKenzie : Also , I ’ ve been working with a lot of students who are about to leave school and the reality that a lot of them are running into is that in all of these major urban areas where most of the work is , they just can ’ t afford a place . Like , they can ’ t move there ; they can ’ t be where the art is . So , that ’ s another part of it , too . Like , if the work just isn ’ t there and they can ’ t afford to be there , the cities are getting hollowed out of artists . That ’ s big and it ’ s certainly not just our discipline , but that ’ s the case in many sectors .
PL & P : Among your membership , are different types of designers impacted worse ; or conversely , having an easier time finding work in other sectors ?
Rossiter : If I think across the disciplines , it ’ s been a lot of scenic and costume designers amongst
our membership who have found a more immediate transfer of skills . With sound and video designers , either it ’ s an immediate transfer , or there ’ s some activities still going on that works
SIMON ROSSITER for them . I think for a lot of lighting designers , if we think about where that overlap into the film sector has been , particularly through IATSE , in many cases it ’ s been about taking the creative hat off and bringing the technical skills that we have to be able to have work . And so , I think it is certainly something we acknowledge as a backstop , in a way , but I also have a number of friends for whom that has been paying the bills for the last few months .
And so , I think one of two things is going to happen . Either we ’ re going to see people who have sustained themselves , and it ’ s not a significant proportion , but it ’ s certainly a not negligible number of our members who ’ ve been able to see income come as a result . And so , I think we ’ re going to see some of our members who have been able to stay in their homes , stay in the industry in some form through this pandemic as a consequence of that , and then they will come back to the art that they love . I think we will also see a number of members who discovered that film pays better than theatre and some really skilled people may not come back .
PL & P : Particularly in the live music industry , there is still hope that shows will be able to safely ramp up beginning in the fall . As well , there ’ s the belief that with all this pent-up demand from fans and all the productions waiting to happen , that things will come flying back . But is it really that simple ?
Rossiter : I think it ’ s a really interesting question , because if I consider the concert industry , for example , or the commercial live performance industry , which is the sort of closest analogue that we have , it ’ s a very different environment and a very different ecology than most of the live performance theatre work that ’ s available in this country , which is non-profit and largely supported through grants and other philanthropy . And almost every organization is actually not really planning anything until January of ‘ 22 .
And so , it ’ s true in that I was reading an article the other day about the suite of concerts that are booked up for the Scotiabank Arena for the fall . Because the commercial industry that needs people in seats to make money , I think that the instant it ’ s allowed back , it ’ s going to be doing everything it can to come back . And so , I think we ’ re going to see commercial theatre operators open up as quickly as they are allowed to . I think we ’ re going to see that in the concert industry .
I think that the non-profit theatre market is going to come back much more slowly . There , ticket revenue is not as critical or as impactful , which is to say that there isn ’ t the same level of desperation to get ticket revenue coming in the door . It ’ s also not as significant a portion of the bottom line . So , I think that that ’ s going to make a huge difference .
The risk or fear of reduction in government funding money is going to , I think , create a lot of fear and trepidation in theatre organizations and that is going to slow the demand a little bit , or apply the pressure to keep costs down , to do less ambitious shows , etc . So , I think it ’ s going to be very slow . And I think it ’ s going to be a really measured relaunch , and it ’ s going to take many years for the kind of investment to get back to the way it was . In contrast , the commercial market I actually think is going to recover much more quickly .
Purtell : Remember , the planning stages for live performance are so far in advance . If you ’ re contracted in April , that ’ s considered late for September . And so , it ’ s making commitments to the pre-production process of , let ’ s say , set design or costume design , and how long that takes for live performance , and then to implement it . So that ’ s contracting people and making a financial commitment to people while having the fear of things being cancelled and postponed or just gone forever . It ’ s happened a number of times now during the pandemic , and so it ’ s difficult for the not-for-profit organizations to try and figure out how to make that kind of commitment . And so , as Simon said , I think that it will trickle back in versus come full force .
The commercial industry , though , like Come from Away already exists — the design already exists , all the design elements exists , the script exists , the music exists , it all exists . So , it ’ s the difference between making a show versus putting a show on that you ’ ve put on hold .
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Lighting & Production .
Summer 2021 | 33