The state set April 2 as the date for theaters in New York to reopen, with capacity rules.
Theaters that hold fewer than 10,000 people can reopen at 33% capacity with up to 100 people inside and 200 outside. If the venues test customers, they can get 150 inside and up to 500 outside.
The state had already announced that large venues like Madison Square Garden could start reopening with reduced capacity earlier.
Stand Up New York on 78th Street and Broadway just announced it was suing the state to demand it allow theaters to reopen — so the announcement was a welcome one. An owner told CBS that they’ll be reopening on April 2.
“We’ve really been deprived of making a living,” comedy club owner Dani Zoldan said.
He’s looking forward to getting about 40 people laughing again safely inside Stand Up New York.
“We’ll do temperature checks, and we’ll probably even do COVID testing for comics,” he said.
So if you have a 10,000 seat theater you can have 100 people inside unless you do onsite rapid testing? What insane person came up with that proportion? In a big theater people would be 30 feet apart whereas in a 300 seat theater everybody can be 3 seats apart.
If you own a large theater (300-500 seats) it is probably cheaper to remain closed
The infection rates in NYC remain “dangerously” high, as per The New York Times, which advises avoiding indoor activities such as indoor dining, arenas, theatres, etc. While everyone is sympathetic to the loss of revenue in such businesses, it is irresponsible for Cuomo to “open” them up until a majority of New York City people are vaccinated and the infection rate is considerably lower. The concept of “Safe” indoor activities is as ridiculous as “clean coal.”
Mary,
If you’re still in panic about COVID, stay home yourself, don’t force everyone else to stay at home. Lockdowns are dumb and don’t work.
Lockdowns are dumb and don’t work.>>
They do work, at a huge toll on mental health and economic cost.
Let’s keep disinformation at a minimum here. Masks function well if worn over the mouth and nose. Vaccines give us a huge advantage over the chaos from the spread of virus and idiocy a long 12 months ago.
Mary, please continue to stay home for your health and well being while the rest of us
safely & respectfully navigate our way back to living our lives in NYC.
Crankypants, Please consider your behavior affects others. Too soon, in my opinion to “live your life” meaning clubbing and restaurants if it results (hello new variants) in killing and harming others.
It costs you nothing to care about the wellbeing of others.
That kind of guilt-tripping might have worked last spring, but it’s awfully self-righteous at this point and unfair.
“Living our lives” and “caring for others” are not mutually exclusive, come on.
When all the vulnerable population have been taken care of, please set up outside walk-up vaccine sites in CP, TxSq, Union SQ, PP, Wash hts armory, for anyone who wants a shot.
If you’re in that vulnerable population, please tell your bubble to watch out for you, and take care. We are where we are.
Is Lincoln Center going to open up? City Center? If they do will audiences come?
Can they afford this financially. Would limited seating increase the deficit since they now would have to pay ALL non-administrative employees—Stagehands, ushers, maintenance, security, and custodial?
They can’t even open the Film Forum at Lincoln Center profitably where minimal staff are required so I’d say it would be absolutely impossible to stage any kind of live show for only 100 theater goers.
Hopefully in a short time the combination of the number of people vaccinated and the number of people who have had covid and shaken it off as an annoyance will reach a critical mass so our businesses and cultural institutions as well as their employees can start to dig themselves out of the financial predicaments of 2020/2021.
It only takes one asymptomatic infected person to infect others in an enclosed space, especially over the course of an hour or two. Seems crazy to me.
The government should step up and financially support all closed businesses until the pandemic recedes. A small portion of the defense budget, for example, would cover the cost easily. People lives should not needlessly be put in danger.
Dear Crankypants:
Ignoring your unnecessarily snarky comment, I sincerely wish that Everyone follows the science.
Wishing better days ahead.
What science? Which science? Whose science? There is no such thing as THE science. Do you have any idea how much disagreement there is among reputable scientists (to say nothing of the quacks) about how to respond to Covid?
Don’t know much about Biology? Science doesn’t know everything? okay…
Can we agree on simple Math then, addition and simple counting? Counting votes and dead bodies is simple math 1+1=2 and so on.
Thank you Mary.
I have tix for Ringo at the Beacon in June— any chance???🤗
And if so, will they do full capacity because everyone will want to use their tickets from postponed show last June?
I have had my 2 vaccines.
I’m happy to wear my N95 mask—or two!!— just please open up!🙏💕💕💕🎊🎉🎶🎵👏
Or at least open beacon back up to full capacity with our N95 masks for all of us healthcare workers bunching up at work every day anyway at hospitals around the city?🎊
I promise I’ll stay 6 feet away from Ringo!!🤗💕🎵🎶
Wow. I can’t even imagine sitting in a club yet, as much as I love them, at least till most of us are vaccinated.
My daughter is a nurse at NYU and works on a COVID unit. Patients are very sick and deconditioned from weeks of being in bed for long periods. They are barely able to move because any exertion causes their oxygen level to dip dangerously causing a crisis. The patients are needy beyond words not to mention scared and horribly depressed. So I Ask you, is it worth it to you to take a chance getting infected or infecting someone else???
Too soon to be opening theaters and clubs. It’s one thing if it didn’t affect others health, but it does. If you are slamming people who care about infecting others (the new variants are here!) and damaging them, perhaps forever, to “get back to life” then please consider other people’s health is more important than your clubbing.
There is no need to trivialize other people’s desire for resumption of pre-covid activities. Hundreds of thousands of workers’ livelihoods depend on the return of arts, entertainment, dining, etc., so for you to just write off those activities as self-indulgent “clubbing” just shows how insulated and privileged you are.