Commentary
Four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down just about everything that required venturing outside of your house. The performing arts were hit especially hard by the stay-at-home orders, because they were deemed non-essential extras to basic human survival. They also were one of the last business sectors to recover, since all those people sitting in close contact with strangers seemed like a germ factory. The nearsighted mandates destroyed many companies and damaged countless artists’ careers. Four years down the road, they are still trying to figure out how to rebuild the audience and heal some lasting damage that was done, both economically and artistically.
