INTERVIEW: Checking in with Abingdon Theatre Company during the COVID-19 pandemic
Photo: Chad Austin is the artistic director of the Abingdon Theatre Company. Photo courtesy of Marc J. Franklin / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
Just about every industry in the world has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps one of the most visual examples of the hurt and anguish that people are dealing with can be found in the world of live theater. Broadway and off-Broadway have been closed for months with no signs of opening anytime soon. The marquee lights are turned off, and theater-makers are heading to online platforms to engage with their patrons and audiences.
Abingdon Theatre Company, an exciting off-Broadway institution normally with a healthy slate of new theatrical fare, has not been spared during the coronavirus scare. The final months of their 27th season were canceled, and their 28th season, due to start in the fall, has been delayed.
“It’s a hard thing to swallow,” said Chad Austin, artistic director of Abingdon, in a recent phone interview. “We’re luckily surviving. … We made very quick adjustments, so that’s the positive side — sort of living everyday along with everyone else, I guess, figuring out what’s next.”
The Abingdon had three events canceled during this spring season, including the latest entries in their One Night Only and Around the Table reading series. They canceled those events even before Broadway closed its doors, but the aftertaste of what was lost still lingers.
“We had just announced this great musical reading that we were doing with Jenn Colella and a few other Broadway stars,” Austin said. “I sadly had to make all those calls to all those artists and say that we’re not going to be able to do this production because I wanted to get ahead of the curve.”
Still, Abingdon has remained vital and virtual. They are planning a summer series of live-streamed readings, some of which were scheduled for next year’s 28th season. Austin thinks it’s a good idea to put a few of those in the summer months because the theater company’s patrons and fans are looking forward to new content.
“As of now, we’re actually going to have to postpone our 28th season gala, which was meant to be on Oct. 5,” he said. “Our mainstage show that hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s very exciting, I was able to push that back to February, which was supposed to start our season in November. So I’m hoping that the further we push things back we’ll actually have live audiences then, and everyone is safe and able to come to the theater. But in the meantime, we’re going to start a virtual world and bring our readings to our fans and maybe some of the musicals and all of the great new works.”
Abingdon’s success over the past quarter of a century has been impressive. Named after Abingdon Square Park, where the idea for the company was born by five theater artists in a nearby brownstone, Abingdon has staged many memorable productions, including Fruit Trilogy by Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), The Mother of Invention by James Lecesne and the acclaimed Get on Your Knees by Jacqueline Novak. These highlights keep Austin hopeful for the future.
“I have to be optimistic about my truth and say that I hope that we will get back to what we know the theater to be because I don’t think it can be replaced by virtual readings and virtual theater,” he said. “I think theater-makers would agree with me, there’s nothing like that live experience for the creators, the actors and certainly the audience. It is my hope that we are able to get back to that at some time; maybe it won’t be eight months from now, but maybe it’s a year from now. I don’t think we can replace that. I don’t think the greatest of virtual readings will ever replace the thrill of what audiences participate in, and I think we just have to wait for the medical world to find a vaccine and testing and all the things that everybody is looking at every single day.”
During this downtime, the world has had many news headlines. In addition to the industry-changing pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and the calls for racial justice have prompted theater professionals to speak out and join the global Black Lives Matter movement.
Here’s what Austin offered Hollywood Soapbox in a statement: “Abingdon Theatre Company stands in solidarity with our black colleagues, friends, artists and the entire black community. We give our full support to those protesting in the streets for justice and equality. We are deeply saddened by the senseless murder of George Floyd and countless others and we irrefutably condemn it. This cannot continue. ATC can only fulfill our mission to produce brave, new American work by emerging and established artists if all voices are heard equally. We vow to renew our commitment to listen, support and educate ourselves. We can no longer be complicit, change is necessary. #blacklivesmatter #justiceforgeorgefloyd”
It is safe to say that Abingdon and other theater companies around the world will be responding to the unprecedented news of 2020 for years to come. This year’s statements and cancellations are the first wave, which eventually will lead to playwrights and actors interpreting the stories of these historic times for the stage and the audience — once it’s safe for everyone to be together.
“I think the fact that we’re able to continue to support new playwrights, new actors, just new artists in general is incredible,” Austin said back in May. “And throughout the last two years that I’ve been artistic director, I’ve really stayed true to mentoring new artists and taking a chance on some pieces maybe that no one would. … So I am very proud of the theater and really proud to continue the mission of underserved artists as well.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Click here for more information on the Abingdon Theatre Company and Chad Austin.
