This is Drama Masks, a Bay Area performing arts column from a born San Franciscan and longtime theatre artist in an N95 mask. I talk venue safety and dramatic substance, or the lack thereof.
I rarely miss a show. Sure, I’ve had my share of weather cancellations, scheduling mix-ups, and other such acts of force majeure, but in each of those scenarios, I was well on my way to making my scheduled appearance at the venue. Hell, I dare say my attendance record is so good that the only things guaranteed to keep me away are a major company blacklisting me or careless housemates infecting me with a virus at the center of this very much not over pandemic, now entering its sixth year.
Last week, I wound up missing a show. Twice.
Despite my departing early SF to Berkeley, BART—due to a combo of slow travel, cops stopping the train, and more—had me arrive at the Berkeley Rep after the curtain had already gone up on The Thing About Jellyfish (through March 9). I even missed the 10-minute grace period at the top of the hour.
Fortunately, their wonderful press rep was able to reschedule me for the “Enhanced Safety” show that Sunday. (Which may be one of their last, as a recent survey revealed that Berkeley Rep is desperately trying to phase out what few COVID-safe shows it puts on for each production.) I left early again. I missed the show again.
Were I the superstitious type, I might be tempted to say that the fates were intentionally keeping me away from this East Bay world premiere. Unfortunately, I have to attribute both absences to the one part of “trickle-down economics” that actually exists: public services suffering due to a lack of funding.
Sadly, I’m not surprised: BART has been struggling for years, only keeping itself afloat due to COVID funding. (And no amount of penitentiary-like fare gates will make up for giant budget gaps.) When our last POTUS unilaterally decided that the pandemic was “over,” BART once again found itself in a financial quagmire. If they can’t find some $2 billion by next year, they’ll have to make major cuts. And that’s just BART; for those of us who live in SF, don’t even get me started on MUNI’s similar shit show.
If you clicked on either links—hell, if you read this website on any regular basis—then you know the obvious solution staring everyone in the face: tax the rich. It’s the one solution guaranteed to work, yet it’s also the one no one in power wants to try. Our previous mayor originally sat at the right hand of her Twitter-tax-approving predecessor. Our new Mayor Blue Jeans, who admits he has no real Muni plan, had the bright idea of “solving” our city’s homeless problem by filling his transition team with the same rich techies who are responsible for the radical homeless increase over the past two decades.
And on the national level? Well, let’s see: We have a twice-impeached, chronically-bankrupt accused rapist who just allowed a Nazi-saluting South African oligarch to walk off with every Social Security Number in the country as if the latter were a kid in Willy Wonka’s chocolate shoppe. When those two withhold rescue funds for LA fires, you think they’ll fork over cash public transit?
Remember: Emerald Mine Space Karen hates SF. With a passion. Even before he bought and ruined Twitter, he seemed to spend all of his free time (which he had a lot of for a guy “in charge” of five different companies) kvetching about the mere existence of our legendary public transit was an affront to him personally.
I bring up all the above because it’s possible that my aforementioned BART foibles will become a regular occurrence. I know Berkeley Rep and ACT would be okay if all us local critics suddenly vanished (they’ve always had better recognition and funding than the late Cal Shakes), but what about companies that consider SF patrons a lifeline, like Oakland Theater Project of the Berkeley Marsh? What about Center Rep and Aurora? Hell, even Shotgun would take a major hit if it weren’t able to welcome audiences from all over the Bay.
And that door swings both ways: People think SF theatres make bank because the crowds queue up around the block for BroadwaySF. But those venues and shows are already backed by by multi-millionaire producers. If only BroadwaySF crowds could trickle down to shows at Brava!, The Phoenix, or Z Space.
As if oligarchs holding the federal purse string weren’t bad enough, there’s also the fact that this-very-much-not-over COVID pandemic is about to get even worse with the addition of H5N1. Remember how little the stimulus checks helped us last time? Imagine that same scenario with no checks at all, and anti-science nutjobs ignoring vital info and hoping we all just die.
For roughly 2 ½ years, I’ve gotten used to often being the only masked patron in a theatre’s audience. I have a feeling, as the arts are taken over by the regime with federal funding and grants being tampered with or outright withheld, that those audiences, and productions, are about to dwindle down more than before.
Yes, I definitely plan to hit up the Rep again for their new show next week, but the harder it is for audiences to get out to see a show, the less likely they are to become repeat attendees. On one level, my two BART incidents were unfortunate coincidence. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if they become the standard rather than the exception.
