From the great tragedies and comedies of Greece to “Hamilton” on Broadway, theatre has been a staple of society for thousands of years. However, thanks to our not-so-new friend COVID-19, theatre at Westside High School has been severely limited. 

Westside theatre instructor Jeremy Stoll said that learning how to perform while still abiding by restrictions during this pandemic hasn’t been an easy task.

“I think theatre and performance art has been particularly difficult [during COVID-19] because interaction is part of what theatre is,” Stoll said.

Because of the limitations regarding interaction, Stoll said being able to teach acting has proven difficult.

“If people aren’t able to interact in genuine, authentic ways, then it makes it really difficult to teach anybody how to act, especially on stage where human interactions often involve touching and getting close,” Stoll said. “You just can’t do any of it, but we’re doing our best. [We are using] a lot of video and that kind of stuff to make up for it.”

Despite the difficulties of “pandemic acting,” the theatre department still plans to do two shows this semester. However, this doesn’t come without further limitations.

“Yes, [we will have to wear masks during the shows], which no one is happy about,” Stoll said. We’ll need to perform in masks, unfortunately, and [actors] are really going to need to project,  because they [have to] push through all that fabric. But there’s really no other safe way to do it.” 

Besides the difficulty of performing in masks, there are also some precautions being taken behind the scenes.

“The actors will always rehearse in groups smaller than 10 [people], and they’ll be distanced during rehearsal and wearing masks,” Stoll said. “During the shows, we’ll have traffic patterns and things set up around the backstage [area] so that actors are still getting around and getting to their spots safely.”

The limitations don’t just end for the actors, though. They continue on to the audience as well.

“We are going to open up the entire auditorium and then we’re [going to] sell groups of seats,” Stoll said. “So we know that no matter how many people are in that group [of seats], there is enough space between that group and whoever the other group is [so] they get enough space to spread out.” 

Warrior Theatre is also taking measures to ensure that everyone can enjoy their shows by having multiple performances.

“We do three performances each [show] so that if we ‘sell-out,’ then people can buy tickets to another night,” Stoll said.

COVID-19 hasn’t only affected theatre faculty like Stoll, it has also affected actors like senior Nate Ostdiek.

“[COVID-19 is] obviously a very pressing issue, it makes putting on any show traditionally difficult,” Ostdiek said. “There’s the potential for school getting shut down and because of that, we’ve had to keep our shows on a shorter rehearsal time.” 

This hasn’t held Warrior Theatre back, though, as students have found ways to cope with limitations through one of their new shows, “She Kills Monsters.”

“All the scenes in [the show] are really just partner scenes, so that really allows a good limitation of cast size and how many people have to be at every rehearsal,” Ostdiek said.

Ostdiek said that the main way they’ve been able to deal with COVID-19 was through a lot of brainstorming and experimentation.

“We’ve brainstormed some ideas like doing outdoor theatre and other things like that, but didn’t really do anything with that. Within ITS [International Thespian Society], though, we did hold a picnic outside for our first meeting instead of doing it inside, so we were able to get everyone out there,” Ostdiek said. “The main way we have [tried] to overcome [COVID-19] in theatre is just by continually adjusting and seeing what works. If it doesn’t work, don’t do it, [and then], you know, try again.”