In the middle of January in upstate NY, I’m dreaming of the summer heat – and remembering our victory with producing Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well in the midst of a global pandemic. We were fully masked, both artists and audiences, with a maximum of 50 people in the house and six feet between each group. The actors were heroic, as were the audiences. We played the heart out of this funny, fraught, and rarely seen play. We’d never produced it before. The tale of a young woman who cures a King of a mysterious illness and goes on to claim a love that is more complicated than she expected seemed to fit the moment.
We were lucky to be able to produce live theatre outside here in our rural community last summer. I’m hoping we can do so again. As the vaccine is distributed and we finally start to turn the corner on this dark time, I am grateful for all that we can do together as a community. We are powerful. And hopeful. And kind. We must bring this light into the new year and be ready to dance and sing together again, once we can. Perhaps one of the few blessings from this era is that we will never take it for granted – ever again.
