Chicago’s theaters finding little light at the end of the tunnel amid COVID-19

For some theaters, digital content has been a means of keeping audiences engaged in lieu of COVID-19-canceled shows. But no matter how many views these streams get, they don’t even come close to making up for lost revenue generated by traditional live runs.

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MacGregor Arney plays Richard and Courtney Rikki Green plays Anne in “Teenage Dick,” Mike Lew’s new play that finds theater’s most famous disabled character, Shakespeare’s Richard III, scheming his way through the brutal, no-holds barred world of contemporary high school.

MacGregor Arney plays Richard and Courtney Rikki Green plays Anne in “Teenage Dick” at Theater Wit. Following the COVID-19 shut-down of all theaters, the April stream of the production generated $27,000 in revenue.

Charles Osgood

“The future’s uncertain.”

That’s essentially the response you get when you ask Chicago theater company administrators when they’ll be able to welcome back audiences to their “houses.”

For some theaters, digital content has been a means of keeping audiences engaged in lieu of COVID-19-canceled shows. But no matter how many views these streams get, they don’t even come close to making up for lost revenue generated by traditional runs. And while Illinois entered Phase 4 re-opening on June 26 — allowing for gatherings of 50 people or less — it’s a pyrrhic victory for Chicago’s theaters.

“Everybody knows 2020 is over as far as live performances go. The real fear is what’s going to happen in 2021,” said Ellen Placey-Wadey, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation’s senior program director for arts and collections.

Some theaters already know: So far, COVID-19 casualties include the permanent closure of the Mercury Theatre, the comedy powerhouse iO, and Lou Conte Dance Studio. For those still standing, all planned live 2020 productions are canceled. With loans from the eight-week Payroll Protection Program (PPP) dwindling, and no shows on the horizon before 2021, everyone is on shifting sand. Streaming, theater operators say, doesn’t much improve the terrain.

Consider Theater Wit, where “Teenage Dick” went live online in April, the same week it was slated to open. The stream brought in about $27,000, according to artistic director Jeremy Wechsler. But traditional show runs generate about $55,000, he added, and once the shutdown started, Theater Wit started losing about $7,500 a week. He said he stopped paying rent in May on the company’s Lakeview space. His PPP loan covers staff through June 30, but after that, “we will be furloughing the majority of the staff, including me,” he said. “Even after we furlough the entire staff, projected revenue from streaming and donations do not make up the fixed costs of rent, utilities and insurance.”

Phase 4 provides little relief, Wechsler said: He’d have to limit audiences to 25 people and additional costs — virus testing costs, PPE equipment, cleaning — would make opening prohibitively expensive.

Theater Wit isn’t alone in trying to rise above the financial wreckage.

The House Theatre of Chicago earned $36,000 in one night by streaming their 2002 hit, “The Terrible Tragedy of Peter Pan,” said artistic director Nathan Allen. He’s not celebrating, however. “That success is in context of a roughly $300,000 - $400,000 loss in programming income,” Allen said. That loss represents 14% to 18% of the House’s $2.2 million 2020 budget.

The House and Theater Wit provide a snapshot of a bleak nationwide picture. Nationally, 12% of small arts’ businesses (less than 500 employees) don’t think they’ll ever recover to “normal,” pre-COVID-19 levels, according to a report from the National Endowment for the Arts. Another 57% say it will be at least six months before they’re producing at pre-COVID-19 levels. Between March and April, employment in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector fell from roughly 2.4 million to 1.1 million, a drop of 54.1%, the study said.

The smaller, itinerant theaters might have nominally better survival odds. Sideshow Theatre doesn’t rent or own a space or pay union rates since it’s a non-Equity house. It has only one full-time staffer. The company raised just over $11,000 streaming Kristiana Rae Colon’s “Tilikum,” and about $2,200 streaming Philip Dawkins’ “The Happiest Place on Earth.” (It donated the proceeds from “Tilikum” to the #LetUsBreathe collective.)

“We feel confident we’ll be able to survive the rest of the year,” said Sideshow artistic director Jonathan L. Green. “We will need to beef up our fundraising efforts this fall so we can keep the lights on, but because we’re not paying rent, mortgage or facilities costs, it will be easier for us.”

Porchlight Theatre’s “Sondheim @ 90” stream featured David Cromer (clockwise from top row, left), Michael Weber, Jessie Mueller and Sean Allan Krill.”

Porchlight Theatre’s “Sondheim @ 90” stream featured David Cromer (clockwise from top row, left), Michael Weber, Jessie Mueller and Sean Allan Krill.”

Provided

Porchlight Theatre also anticipates surviving, but not without making draconian cuts. While copyright laws mean the musical theater house can’t stream full shows, it’s been offering a variety of musical-themed streams, including “Musical Mondays,” which takes audience requests that Porchlight luminaries pre-record and dedicate. Other streams have included “Sondheim @90” and “Porchlight by Request.”

A PPP loan has “kept all but front of the house staff at full hours,” but come July, a 25% reduction in pay and hours will be necessary, at least through December, said Porchlight’s artistic director Michael Weber. “We are prepared to make deeper staff reductions and to consider layoffs. We can ensure survival, but not without lowering staff overhead,” he added.

For many theaters, Phase 4 won’t help much. “The economics don’t work” for Porchlight to return to live production in the 200-seat Ruth Page Center where it’s in residence, Weber said. “The big shows we had scheduled for the coming season are being moved to the 2021-2022 season, and we are taking a cautious approach to what we can produce in the 2020-2021 season. We are hoping to present smaller-scale titles in the winter and spring,” he said.

After cancelling the remainder of its 2020 performances, Lyric Opera of Chicago is providing some streamed content (from the Lyric orchestra performing Wagner from their homes to snippets of beloved operas) for its audiences, but it’s all free.

“We’re not viewing streaming as a way of generating revenue,” said Anthony Freud, general director, president and CEO of the Lyric. Its endowment “helps ensure the company’s continued survival,” he said. Since March, the Lyric has raised more than $9.6 million for its “Heroes’ Fund,” which was launched to counter COVID-induced losses. 

After fiscal 2020 ends, the Lyric starts up its “For the Love of the Lyric” fund to replace the Heroes’ Fund. The Lyric did not get a PPP loan, although a consortium including the CSO, the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Met and New York City Ballet, is lobbying for a change of rules in order to receive assistance, a spokesperson for the Lyric said.

At the Joffrey, artistic director Ashley Wheater anticipates losing half of the company’s annual earned income due to the cancellation of the remainder of its 2020 performances, including their long-awaited debut at the Lyric Opera House, the troupe’s new home for the next seven years. A PPP loan kept the dancers on payroll through June, Wheater said. The 2020/21 budget has been slashed by 50%, he added, including pay cuts of between 5% and 20%.

Wheater’s working with the New York Public Library to digitize the company’s Joffrey’s archives, but that process could take years. In the meantime, the COVID-19 shutdown will cost the company close to $13.6 million this year. That’s more than half of the Joffrey’s annual revenues, which Guidestar reported at $21.9 million for 2019.

The Neo-Futurists might be the only company in the country making as much streaming as it did with live productions On March 22, they launched “The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral,” available on Patreon starting at $3 a ticket. Live “Wrench” made about $2,200 weekly, and “Wrench Goes Viral” makes the same, said artistic director Kirsten Riiber.

“Are we at risk of losing a whole generation of artists? It’s an existential crisis,” said Greg Reiner, the NEA’s theater and musical theater director/performing arts. “Chicago might be in better shape than most because there are so many small, nimble, itinerant theaters there, and it could be easier for them to navigate this than the larger houses with rent and real estate.”

Catey Sullivan is a local freelance writer.

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