Theater in the Before and After times
Gwendolyn Rice watched a lot of theater this year, even after live productions were shut down
As we all know, this year was strange. Every part of our lives was upended, and for those whose work involves live performances, this was an understatement. Collectively, we have lost so much during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with epic loss of life and livelihoods, we have lost intimate connections with friends and loved ones. We have also lost the experience of being an audience â united in a time and place, attention rapt, heartbeats in sync, inhaling a singular performance and exhaling applause.
Laura Gordon It’s the last day of the year and there’s no denying 2020 has been unlike any other. It has brought challenges we could never have imagined, and I’m sure many people out there can’t wait to draw a line under it and start afresh in 2021. I love that a new year often inspires a fresh wave of hope and positivity – and of course the planned vaccine roll-out has really amplified that by providing a long-awaited light at the end of the tunnel. I heard a speaker just before the pandemic hit, Dave Ventura, who calls this feeling “hopium”, and yes, it can be addictive!
Laura Gordon The ability to multitask is often considered an art – one that many of us strive to master. We all know what it’s like to do a balancing act between things like work life, childcare, pet care, household chores and anything else that comes our way, perhaps this year more than ever. And women in particular are often considered particularly adept at multitasking. Is it a stereotype? Possibly not. One study in 2003 compared groups of 120 men and women jumping between tasks in rapid succession. It showed that, in certain scenarios, the women took a quicker and more methodical approach.