COVID-19 Update Synchronicity Theatre
COVID-19 Update from Synchronicity Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Rachel May.
Synchronicity Theatre
Rachel May
Producing Artistic Director
Synchronicity’s last public performance of Wayfinding, a new play by Whitney Rowland, was on Sunday, March 15. The rest of the play’s run was broadcast online until the end of April. On Monday, March 16, the staff met as a group for the last time.
“Since then, we have been working almost entirely remotely or, when accessing our work spaces, we exercise social distancing with masks,” says producing artistic director Rachel May.
In April, Synchronicity released an archival video of the Family Series production of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds for online viewing. The company has produced the regular online “Synchro Happy Hour,” during which plays are read online and discussed over a glass of wine. Online teaching and education opportunities include Playmaking for Kids Summer Camps (June and July) and Playmaking for Girls Summer Workshops (July 6-11). A Women in the Arts and Business Luncheon was turned into a virtual panel with over 100 viewers who enjoyed lunch and a bottle of Prosecco delivered for a small charge, and an online silent auction.
An announcement regarding Synchronicity Theatre’s 2020/2021 season, which will be a combination of online, streamed, archival, and live performances, is expected in late July. The company is finalizing its health and safety procedures in association with a task force partnership between Emory’s nursing/public health program and the major theaters in town.
“We will be embarking on a new strategic planning process in the 2021 season, and that process will be impacted by COVID 19 experiences,” says May. “Every organization has to continue to create aspirational plans, outlining how they want to impact the community and do their work. But aspirations must be supported by logic and data, which allow the organization to pivot and innovate as circumstances allow.”