Dr. Stefka Mihaylova was interviewed for an article in the Seattle Times about this generation of Theater Artists and how COVID-19 has affected them.
Theater has a history of adapting to major crises by reinventing itself, notes Stefka Mihaylova, assistant professor of theater history and performance theory at UW School of Drama. Theater reinvented itself when it first began competing with television and film, and during recessions and economic depressions.
“This moment is similar,” she says, referring to theater companies that have begun creating virtual content. “Theater has to meet audiences where they are, and they are at home.”
In the meantime, Mihaylova anticipates that the experience of working on screens will be beneficial to emerging actors who often do work in film and TV to pay for the work they do onstage. Their Zoom performances, she says, may even become part of their portfolios for film work.