NEW YORK — Select Broadway theaters will open up for the first time in a year as part of the state of New York’s ongoing festival of pop-up events to jumpstart the state’s live entertainment sector.
The series, known as NY PopsUP and run by Hollywood producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, will now bring several city venues back as “flex venues,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. The events will occur across the state over the course of 100 days beginning on April 2.
The Apollo, Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, The SHED, Harlem Stage, La MaMa, National Black Theatre and The Glimmerglass Festival’s Alice Bush Opera Theater are just some of what the state is calling “flex venues” that can adapt to social distancing protocols. On Broadway, the Music Box on 45th Street will be the first to open its doors to audiences for programs. Those events will be used as a pilot program for Broadway’s eventual full return.
“In just two weeks NY PopsUp has become the engine that drives the safe re-opening of the arts throughout our state,” said Rudin and Rosenthal in a statement. “It’s a wonderful bonus to the opportunity to present 300 shows in 100 days, and to the enormous satisfaction in bringing artists back to work here. It’s incredibly exciting to see what the arts community and the state can do, together, when we all row in the same direction.”
NY PopsUp launched on Feb. 20 and will run through Labor Day. The festival will end with the 20th Anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival and The Festival at Little Island at Pier 55, bringing the total number of performances to more than 1,000. NY PopsUp is being coordinated in lock step with state public health officials and will strictly adhere to Department of Health (DOH) COVID-19 protocols.
Per New York State’s Department of Health, attendee capacity of any performance must be limited to the lesser of 33% of the maximum occupancy for the particular area or 50 people; exclusive of performers, crew, and other staff who are necessary for the event.
