ABSTRACT
Following the historical context of production labor over the last century, this chapter describes how the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice reckoning of 2020 impacted the field of theatrical production in the United States. It uses data from the Return To The Stage Study, the “Where is all the production staff?” Study, and the 2021 Stage Manager Survey to show these impacts on the labor force. It describes the theatre industry’s response to the murder of George Floyd the national unrest that followed; documents a handful of calls to action and accountability that were made, in particular “We See You White American Theatre”; and traces how the spark of this racial justice reckoning at a moment when live theatre was in limbo pushed the industry to examine how their commitments to racial justice would be demonstrated in the “re-opening”.
