Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2020 - 11

health events will help to sustain the industry through potential "second wave"
events or future epidemics.
Changes to public health policy
were, indeed, hastened by SARS, including contact tracing, school closures, and
temperature checking, all of which have
informed the response to COVID-19.
While SARS has clearly influenced a culture of mask wearing, disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, and public toilet
hygiene, there were no lasting changes
to operations or practice in performance
venues. Globally, few productions were
cancelled as a result of SARS, with
Toronto's cancellation of Mamma Mia!
notable as the exception rather than the
rule, and this despite SARS's significant
impact on Toronto.

Growth in Seats in Extant Broadway Theatres
Total seats in Broadway theatres are plotted against WWI (grey), the 1918 flu (green), the 1919 actors strike
(yellow), and the Great Depression (blue).

20,000

10,000

0
1905

Great Depression

1918 Flu

30,000

Actors Strike 1919

40,000

US involment in WWI

Number of seats in currently extant Broadway theatres

50,000

1910

1915

1920

1925

1930

1935

Rethinking Spaces

1940

Source: Playbill.com and Charcoalblue research

The decade immediately following
the live entertainment industry's unprecedented and sustained downturn-from
the years leading up to the First World
War, through the 1918 flu, and then the
actors strike in 1919-saw the highest
rate of theatre construction seen previously or since. Of the current number
of seats on Broadway (roughly 50,000),
nearly half of those are in theatres built
between October 1919 and October
1929 (nearly 21,000).
Closures, alone, will not stall the development of cultural buildings. But the
impact of the current economic downturn should also be considered. While
the Great Depression did cause theatre
construction to stop almost without
exception from 1930 and many years
thereafter, the effect of a less sustained
recession is likely to be milder. Indeed, it
could even provide some benefit to wellplaced organizations.

Lessons from SARS

The SARS outbreak of 2003 caused
an economic recession in Hong Kong,
which was already dealing with righting
itself in the post-handover period and
the Asian financial crisis. SARS has had
lasting social and cultural effects and has
entrenched a culture of personal responsibility amid a mistrust of government.
SARS led to nearly 300 deaths in Hong
Kong; at the time of writing, COVID-19

is attributable to seven deaths in Hong
Kong.
Even given the seriousness of the
outbreak and the highly contagious characteristics of the virus, far more public
events continued through the SARS period than are happening now. In Hong
Kong, the Rugby Sevens tournament
was played with spectators. Many performances were cancelled, but those were
mainly attributed to limited international travel. Following the March to April
2003 outbreak, a government-sponsored
international arts festival continued
as planned in mid-July with only a few
groups withdrawing.
During COVID-19, Hong Kong was
quick to respond, but has never undertaken a full "lockdown." Museums, sports
facilities, performance venues, and bars
were closed starting in late January.
Some facilities had begun phased reopening in March but were quickly shut
when a second wave of infections hit.
Cinemas were allowed to re-open in May
2020 and government-operated performance venues were re-opened in the
beginning of June 2020, just over four
months after initially closing.
The additional context of SARS and
COVID-19 in Hong Kong suggests some
further guidance:
* There will be an enduring and heightened sensitivity to public health.
* Preparedness for early action on future

COVID-19 will, in all likelihood, be the
worst public health crisis of our lifetime.
However, there will continue to be novel
contagious diseases of varying severity in
the future. These future outbreaks may
pose a threat to our social interactions
and the economy of live events. Our current challenge is to learn, as a performance and events industry, how to avoid
future closures-and, as a society, how to
avoid the future lockdowns.
The developments in public health
following 1918 suggest that changes
to codes and standards for ventilation
and other safeguards may result from
the COVID-19 crisis. Once the scientific
community and public health agencies
are able the review the whole arc of the
COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely that the
standards for indoor air quality and sanitation will be reviewed and updated.
The theatre industry and specialist
building designers should be at the forefront of this effort to ensure that any new
guidance is relevant and doesn't threaten
the viability of buildings and operations.
At Harvard University, the American
Repertory Theatre and T.H. Chan School
of Public Health partnered to publish the
"Roadmap to Recovery and Resilience in
Theatre," which specifically addresses
health issues in buildings. Charcoalblue
and the Haworth Tompkins architectural
firm contributed to that study.
While many procedural and operational improvements are suggested, the
largest building infrastructure impacts
are likely to be ventilation. The Roadmap

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