March 31 Bergren Forum: Theater in the Time of Covid

Eliza Beckwith, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Alfred University, will present the March 31 Bergren Forum: “The Show Must (try to) Go On; Theatre in the Time of Covid."

Beckwith writes: Theatre and all the performing arts were (and continue to be) profoundly affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this talk (we) will discuss how the art form needed to pivot to virtual models; what worked and what did not; how the professional theatre industry was almost completely shut down for a year and a half and the economic fallout that resulted; how live theatre has come back; and the changes it’s been forced to make.

Beckwith also discuss in ways in which she dealt with the shut-down, her outdoor production of Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven in Alfred in September of 2020, and her newfound collaboration with Big Telly Theatre Company in Northern Ireland, a direct and positive result of the pandemic's restrictions. 

The Bergren Forum weekly lecture series is held at 12:10 p.m. Thursdays and is currently carried on the Zoom platform. The Zoom link for Bergren forums may be obtained by e-mailing Marilyn Saxton.