If you know me and are reading this, you know that I work in theater. If you don’t know me and are reading this, now you know!
Theater has been a part of my life for a long time, but it became a serious necessity in my life during high school. I stage managed almost all of our high school productions while a student and fell in love with the craft. I also dabbled in lighting design, sound operation, and even acting (happy to report that I’m terrible at the latter, thanks for asking!).
I currently do marketing for Lincoln Center Theater, one of New York’s non-profit theaters producing on and off Broadway. I’ve been lucky to work on shows like the recent revivals of My Fair Lady and The King and I, as well as new plays like Oslo, The Wolves, and Third Rail Projects’ Ghost Light.
Not being in the office means I’ve been having to consume theater news remotely, use Microsoft Teams group chats for keeping up with coworkers, and getting my theater “fix” digitally. There are great platforms out there that can satisfy your own craving for thoughtful, well-produced theater. Here are some recommendations:
Streaming Options
BroadwayHD
This is a great option if you’re a culture vulture and attend a lot of live theater. It’s also great if you DON’T have regular access to live theater but love the art form. I was gifted a three-month subscription for Christmas from Gavin’s uncle, and it’s a really great platform. I’ll be curious to see if they add more shows that have been previously filmed but are otherwise unreleased in the coming weeks. It’s only $8.99/month and you can start with a 7-day free trial.
YouTube
The National Theatre (our friends across the pond) will be sharing NT Live productions for free via YouTube every Thursday. It’s an amazing way to see some of the wonderful productions in their catalog from your own home. Click here to go directly to their YouTube channel, aptly named National Theatre at Home.
TrickleUP – NYC Artists Network
This is a very new venture from a group of artists, actors, playwrights, directors, you-name-it from NYC who have banded together to create a platform for artists to support other artists. The goal is to have 10,000 subscribers at $10 a month, then every month they can give $10,000 to 10 different artists affected by the COVID-19 cancellations. And every month 10 new artists in need will get $10,000. There are many supremely talented artists in this month’s line-up – I encourage you to check it out and support if you can!
Theater Topics to Research Online
Or, as I like to call it, fall down a Google rabbit hole.
Haunted Broadway Theaters
Many Broadway theaters are over a century old and have great historical architecture. And some even have ghosts! Here are a few great places to start your research:
- The Real-Life Ghost Stories Behind Broadway’s 9 Haunted Theatres (Playbill)
- The Ghosts of Broadway (Playbill)
- The 5 Most Terrifyingly Haunted Theatres (EXP1)
- The haunted history of Broadway’s Palace Theatre (Curbed)
- Meet Broadway’s Resident Ghosts (Theatre Nerds)
Bonus Points: Jennifer Tepper is a multi-hyphenate theater industry professional, and she has a great series of books about the history of Broadway. She covers a LOT, which are great if you’re looking to dive deeper into this topic!
Hidden Apartments Inside Broadway Theaters
This is something I spent way too long researching yesterday. I love to learn about hidden areas in these old theaters, and hidden apartments are the pinnacle. Here are some great links to read:
David Belasco’s Hidden Apartment in the Belasco Theatre
- Belasco’s Ghost (Museum of the City of New York)
- A Broadway Haunt (The New Yorker)
- Living Over the Store: Shubert Penthouses by Brooks McNamara (Shubert Archive)
- This is the hidden apartment of David Belasco at the Belasco Theatre (New York Broadway Tours)
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Belasco Theatre (Backstage)
- The Belasco Apartment (A Day In The Life of An Actor)
- The Wizard’s Lair: The Man Behind the Belasco Theatre (Medium)
Daniel Frohman’s Hidden Apartment & Office in the Lyceum Theatre
- Lyceum Theatre History & Architecture (The Shubert Organization)
- Lyceum Theatre Apartment (Untapped New York)
- Living Over the Store: Shubert Penthouses by Brooks McNamara (Shubert Archive)
- For 102 Years, The Play Has Been Its Thing (The New York Times)
- Messrs. Shubert Present (Broadway Inbound)
The Shubert Theatre Penthouse
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Shubert Theatre (Backstage)
- Living Over the Store: Shubert Penthouses by Brooks McNamara (Shubert Archive)
- Living the Broadway High Life (The Barksdale Buzz)
- Shubert Organization Inc. History (Funding Universe)
That’s all I have for today. I hope you enjoyed this collection of theater-related forms of at-home entertainment! I’ll try to do this going forward (it honestly is cathartic for me, so thanks for humoring me if you’ve read this whole post).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the recent deaths of playwright Terrence McNally and actor Mark Blum, both of whom died of coronavirus complications. I had the privilege to meet Mark Blum a few years ago when my boyfriend, Gavin, was releasing an indie film in NYC. He was such a genuinely nice guy with a good sense of humor. He was also a great actor (I got to see him in at least 3 plays that I can recall right now). Thank you to both of these wonderful artists for your contribution to our industry. You will be sorely missed.
Theater photo by Sonder Quest on Unsplash
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