Comley on Loss of Live Entertainment: Thrive Global

Tony Award-winning producer and alum Bonnie Comley ’94 writes a piece for Thrive Global about what it is like to be an artist during this pandemic and experience the loss of your craft. Comley notes that Broadway employees use “family” and “community” to describe their working atmosphere, which undoubtedly makes the current pandemic situation even harder.

Ambiguous loss leaves unanswered questions because of a lack of finality. How do you mourn for a lifestyle or an industry that isn’t really dead, but may come back totally transformed? Even as we join rallying cries that live theater will be back stronger than ever we may face housing, food insecurity and other stresses of unemployment. Disenfranchised grief is socially invalidated or minimized, which affects a person’s ability to acknowledge and process it. People can lose their sense of purpose and identity with a job loss. Add in political and social unrest, and fear of a second wave of this deadly virus as we head into colder weather and the holidays, and it’s a recipe for the mental health crisis we’re in, both within and outside the theatre.

Read The Theatermakers Guide to Living With Loss on Thrive Global.