Happy World Theatre Day at a very difficult time for theatre. During the current shutdown Broadway has been closed down, several shows won’t reopen, others have been rescheduled for next season, and the Tony Awards have been postponed. But more than that, millions of theatre employees and related workers have been laid off with no certainty of when they will be back.

And the dynamics of this social distancing makes one wonder how soon people are willing to sit shoulder to shoulder next to strangers for a community experience to hear a good story. Humans have hungered for this experience since the first person stood up around the fire to act out the hunt for an audience. But with our fear of contagion, and the increasing use of technology to feed our story needs, I wonder how quickly live theatre can be revived. I’m worried and hope that the “fabulous invalid” can come back from its oft predicted demise.

As always you can find more on http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes