“If this finishes and we don’t get sick, then whatever we’re doing is working,” said Nicholas Edwards, the actor starring as Jesus in a pandemic-era production of “Godspell.”Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

‘Godspell’ in 2020: Masks, Partitions and a Contactless Crucifixion

The first professional musical staged in the United States since theater shut down is also a de facto public health experiment.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — And on the eighth day, Jesus wept.

A hard rain thrummed on the roof of a festival tent. Nine masked performers, speechless, stared intently at center stage. Nicholas Edwards, the 28-year-old actor playing the Son of God, made it midway through the “Godspell” ballad “Beautiful City,” when, rising to sing a lyric about rebuilding, he burst into tears.

It had been a long first week, and not just because there was so much to memorize. There were the nasal swabs and the temperature checks and the quarantining and the face coverings. And now there were tape measures to double-check distances and translucent screens to enclose backup singers; still to come were costume pockets to stash hand sanitizer.

The rehearsal halted. The keyboardist stopped playing. Edwards buried his head — pierced in one ear by a cruciform stud — under his black tank top.

“In the real world, we would come over and hug you,” said the director, Alan Filderman. But, complying with the rules of the day, he did not rise from his seat; nor did the other actors, who extended air hugs instead.

Edwards took a moment, collected himself and finished the scene. “As I started to sing, ‘When your trust is all but shattered,’ that took me out, really hearing that,” he later explained. “We’ve lost all faith and trust in each other, and trust in the theater. Will it ever come back?”

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The choreographer Gerry McIntyre teaches dance steps to performers shielded behind vinyl screens to hinder the transmission of aerosols when they sing.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

The coronavirus pandemic emptied stages across the United States in March, as local officials banned large gatherings and then the nationwide theater actors’ union barred its members from performing. Now, for the first time anywhere in the country, a handful of union actors are returning to the stage — two stages, actually, both of them located in the Berkshires, a treasured summer cultural destination in Western Massachusetts.

The two productions here in Pittsfield — “Godspell” at Berkshire Theater Group, and the one-person play “Harry Clarke” at Barrington Stage Company — are de facto public health experiments. If they succeed, they could be a model for professional theater during this period of peril. But if actors or audience get sick, that would be a serious setback.

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When the pandemic hit, shows across America went dark. A regional theater in New England thinks it has found a way back.
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Listen to ‘The Daily’: Bringing the Theatre Back to Life

Hosted by Michael Barbaro, produced by Luke Vander Ploeg and Biana Giaever, and edited by Larissa Anderson and Alix Spiegel

When the pandemic hit, shows across America went dark. A regional theater in New England thinks it has found a way back.

[music]

michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

Today, when the pandemic struck, the multi-billion dollar theater industry went dark, shutting down shows mid-production and preventing new shows from ever opening. But this summer, a small group of actors tried to bring the theater back to life. My colleague, Michael Paulson, tracked their journey.

It’s Friday, September 4.

michael paulson

So before the pandemic, I was seeing theater five or six times a week. My whole life revolved around Times Square and the Theater District. And of course, that came abruptly to a halt in early March.

archived recording

And the lights have dimmed on New York’s famed Broadway. Broadway theaters today extended their shutdown. Shows will now remain dark—

michael paulson

And then about three months into the Broadway shutdown, I get a call from this theater in Western Massachusetts, telling me they have some news. They have a plan.

[MUSIC - “ALL FOR THE BEST” FROM “GODSPELL”]

They’re going to put on a show that summer in the Berkshires.

archived recording

(SINGING) When you feel sad.

michael paulson

And it’s going to be “Godspell“.

archived recording

(SINGING) Or under a curse, your life is bad. Your prospects are worse.

michael paulson

It is a show from 1971. It’s about Jesus. And it depicts Jesus with a group of followers trying to instruct them in moral behavior by telling them parables. And for five decades—

archived recording

(SINGING) Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, ba da.

michael paulson

—this show has been done over and over and over again.

[music - "day by day" from "godspell"]

(SINGING) Day by day by day.

michael paulson

There have been 10,000 productions just over the last 20 years.

archived recording

(SINGING) Love thee more dearly.

michael paulson

It’s been set in prisons and in homeless shelters and in refugee camps.

archived recording

(SINGING) Oh, dear Lord—

michael paulson

People love it.

archived recording

(SINGING) Day by day by day. Day by day by day by day.

michael paulson

So of course, I was kind of excited. But I was also kind of disbelieving. Like, wow, they’re really going to do this? And they’re going to pull this off? This is a really complicated time for theater making. Because everything about theater seems risky. A large number of people in the cast of Moulin Rouge got the virus. A number of producers and theater owners got the virus. And probably most devastating for the Broadway community was the saga of Nick Cordero.

[APPLAUSE]

archived recording

Please welcome Tony nominee Nick Cordero and his gangster—

michael paulson

—a really well-liked guy, young, seemingly fit and healthy, had gotten married relatively recently and had a new baby. Just relocated to LA and started feeling sick and was diagnosed with the virus. Spent months in the hospital. And ultimately, he died.

So the big union, Actors’ Equity, that represents 51,000 professional actors and stage managers across the country has forbidden its members from auditioning, rehearsing, or performing in person. And every actor I know is unemployed. Unemployment is almost total in the theater world. There is no work. And that means not only no income, but it really threatens everyone’s access to health care. Because actors earn health insurance by working, and they’re not working. And so it’s a devastating time for a group of people who, already, many of them live on the edge.

And so a couple months into the pandemic, here comes this theater in Western Massachusetts that wants to do “Godspell“. This is a region of the country that has a very low coronavirus caseload. “Godspell” only has 10 actors and doesn’t involve any romantic entanglements or hand-to-hand combat. And the theater, the Berkshire Theater Group, is willing to do almost anything that Equity wants to get this show going. So based on all of that, the union agrees. This is the only musical with union actors taking place in the United States of America this summer. And everyone in the theater world is watching, some with horror, some with excitement, some with dread.

The stakes are enormous. Because if this works, it might be a model for continuing to do some theater in some parts of the country and in other parts of the world. And if it doesn’t work, it’s going to send a terrible signal about the ability of the theater world to limit risk.

michael paulson

OK. So just in case we use audio, just tell me your name and, like, what you’re doing in this show.

nicholas edwards

My name is Nicholas Edwards and I play Jesus.

michael paulson

So I get to the Berkshires in late July. And I start to meet everyone. There’s 12 actors, 10 of them on stage plus the two understudies.

michael paulson

And you’re a college student?

speaker 1

Yes. I’m going to be a senior this upcoming fall.

michael paulson

They range in age from 20 to 34.

speaker 2

And there I played Elphaba for two and a half years on Broadway.

michael paulson

A few of them have Broadway experience. Most of them do not.

speaker 3

So I just— I just felt that this would be one of—

[music]

speaker 3

—the craziest, wildest experiences I could be a part of, especially right now.

michael paulson

So they’re all going to live together in a house. They’re forming a kind of quarantine bubble. They’re going to be tested three times a week for the virus. They’re not going to go to the gym. They’re not going to socialize. They’re not going to date. They’re not going to party. They’re going to stay together. And there are two priorities are to make a great show and not to get sick.

michael paulson

It’s Sunday afternoon in the Berkshires. And the cast is outside in a tent running through the song, We Beseech Thee.

michael paulson

So as the rehearsals got under way—

michael paulson

So they’re sweating. The mics are starting to slip off their heads.

michael paulson

—there are people all over the place with Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer. There are these rules about how many people can be in the bathroom at one time. And they get personal bins of, like, pencils and towels and scripts that are going to be sanitized every night.

michael paulson

They’re spaced out about 10 feet apart from each other. There are two rows—

michael paulson

And then there are all the performance rules. The stage is going to be carved up into these 10 areas that they call home bases. There’s going to be no physical contact between actors. And not only that, but they’re not going to even pass props from one to another. Only one person can touch a prop.

michael paulson

So right now, they’re relying on distance to keep them safe.

michael paulson

Yeah, it’s so weird, you know? Actors are used to kind of being really close to one another and reading one another and talking toward one another, singing toward one another. And “Godspell” is a show that is kind of about building community and often that involves things like hugging. And so suddenly, they’re in these boxes. And it’s absolutely strange. But it’s going. They’re getting it down. And then, they hit a roadblock.

The stage manager one morning is watching the rehearsal and he doesn’t love what he’s seeing. People are too close to each other. And they might be singing at each other. So he goes over to talk to the director. And the director is upset. They only have two weeks of rehearsal. They’re halfway in. And he feels like he doesn’t yet know the rules under which they have to operate. So he stops the rehearsal. And then Nick Edwards, the actor who’s playing Jesus, he feels like he can’t wait for all these people in the Berkshires to debate about what is and what is not permissible. And instead, he dials New York. He calls the union. And he says, we need some rules. We need some guidance. We need some definitive decision. And the news, although clarifying, is not great. They’re going to have to restage most of the numbers that they’ve already learned. They’re going to have to use masks more often. They’re going to have to stand behind screens more often. They’re going to have to rethink a lot of the blocking in a way that’s going to mean re-rehearsing much of the first half of the show.

speaker 1

Do you need a chair?

michael paulson

No. I’m trying to stay out of the way.

speaker 2

You’re sure?

speaker 1

There’s chairs in there.

michael paulson

So later that night, the actors all got together on the porch of this house that they’re sharing.

speaker 3

We all signed a contract—

michael paulson

Yeah.

speaker 3

—not knowing what the safety precautions were going to be. We all figured social distancing, wearing a mask, doing the right thing. And we thought that we’d get to do a show on stage where we won’t be touching, socially distant. And it’s just gotten so far that I’m getting so stressed, so frustrated.

michael paulson

You know, there’s some frustration and some second guessing.

speaker 3

Like, well, I don’t understand this whole floor thing. I’m, like, it’s dirtier than the platform is.

michael paulson

Why is it OK for us to sit on the floor, but not to sit on a chair where others have sat?

speaker 4

There was an article about a woman who was 20 years old and had to get a lung treatment for it. And you’re, like, this could literally happen So I feel, like—

michael paulson

And then somebody points out that people are getting sick all over the country. And people are dying.

speaker 2

I think shying away from corona is a huge mistake, like, doing the show with less mask and less, like, trying to pretend like this isn’t happening, I think it’s a bad idea.

michael paulson

And if they get this right—

speaker 4

This is literally a new form of theater that has never happened before.

michael paulson

—they might be demonstrating a model of how performance can happen. They might be helping people get jobs. They might be saving theater.

speaker 4

Actually, I was just talking to my friend about this whole thing. And she was, like, you don’t realize that, like, this is going to go down in history books. You need to document this. And you might be the only show that happens during this time.

And then I was, like, wow. I guess when you put it that way—

speaker 1

We should start video blogging, do diaries every day.

michael paulson

And that’s how the conversation ends. I go back to where I’m staying. And they go back to running lines.

michael barbaro

We’ll be right back.

speaker 1

Hey, do you have your tickets?

michael paulson

Yeah. Well, I have it on my phone.

speaker 1

Yeah. If you could pull those up and then zoom in on the bar code, that’d be great.

michael paulson

So finally, rehearsals are over and performances begin.

speaker 1

And then hold it up to the window.

michael paulson

The show’s in demand. And it’s been sold out.

When the audience arrives, they have to have their temperature taken.

speaker 2

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is—

michael paulson

People were super excited to be seeing theater again.

speaker 2

It’s so great seeing people gathered here together to watch this amazing performance. And support—

michael paulson

You could feel some kind of, are we really doing this energy, like, looking around, adjusting the mask, making sure your seat feels far enough from everybody else.

speaker 2

And now, without further ado, I invite you to sit back, relax, have fun, and please join me in welcoming to the stage the cast of “Godspell“. [APPLAUSE]

nicholas edwards

Hi. My name is Nicholas, Nick. In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic took away everything I worked my whole life for.

michael paulson

The original production of “Godspell” opens with this scene called the Tower of Babel, in which a bunch of philosophers are arguing about different ideas.

michael wartella

I’m Mike Wartella. Five months ago, I lost my job and my social life and my means for keeping myself emotionally balanced and stable.

michael paulson

And this production cuts that. And instead, opens with each of these actors talking, in the first person, about their own experiences at the start of the pandemic.

speaker 1

Since March of this year, I have felt helpless, alone, treated as if I am the cause of this pandemic just because I’m Asian.

speaker 2

I’ve also struggled with an addiction for a bunch of years. And this stuff has really kicked up all the old feelings.

speaker 3

I was six weeks out from ending the first national tour of Aladdin, a dream job.

michael paulson

And then there’s, like, this transition.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

And then the shofar sounds. And you realize, oh, yeah. I’m going to see “Godspell“.

[music - "prepare ye the way of the lord"from godspell]

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

michael paulson

And yeah, they’re putting on and taking off masks. And they’re occasionally ducking behind screens. And you can’t help but notice that they’re staying apart from each other.

[PIANO PLAYING]

archived recording

I baptize you with water for repentance sake. But He—

michael paulson

Right at the beginning, there’s this scene of baptism, where John the Baptist is baptizing everyone. And it’s mimed. You know? He’s not touching them. He’s not putting water on them. It’s an actor holding a sponge in the air, pretending that water is coming out of it. And people far away from him are pretending that water is falling on them.

[music - "save the people" from godspell]

(SINGING)When wilt Thou save the people?

Oh, God, have mercy when—

michael paulson

And you know, you can feel the audience starting to relax, starting to enjoy this, starting to engage with it. [APPLAUSE] There’s this vaudeville number in the show that Jesus and Judas perform together.

[music]

And normally, it’s done with top hats and canes. But instead of canes in this production, they use yardsticks so that they can pretend to measure the six feet apart from each other.

speaker 1

You try putting on skinny jeans after a COVID diet. Oh, my gosh.

michael paulson

And you know, they go through a kind of elaborate pandemic pantomime, where Jesus puts on gloves and makes the gestures of putting sanitizer on his hands. And Judas does something similar. It’s a comedic number, but also a reminder of the kind of strange practices that we’ve all so quickly embraced in an effort to keep ourselves and each other safe.

[music - "beautiful city" from godspell]

I remember this one song in particular.

nicholas edwards

(SINGING) Out of the ruins and rubble—

michael paulson

It’s this ballad that Nick sings. And it’s called Beautiful City. And it’s, you know, this moving song about attempts to rebuild after a crisis.

archived recording (nicholas edwards)

(SINGING) We can build a beautiful city. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. We can build—

michael paulson

And it felt especially moving for me. Because during rehearsals, Nick, the actor playing Jesus, had really struggled to get through it.

[rehearsal audio playing]

He’s, like, at center stage. And he’s halfway through the song. And it starts to be about loss of faith.

[audio static]

And he chokes up. He can’t finish.

michael paulson

He sits down and he buries his head in his shirt. And they have to stop the rehearsal. And the director says—

You know, if this was any time but this, we would come over and hug you. But we can’t. And the other actors send him air hugs.

[music]

And he stumbles through it.

nicholas edwards

(SINGING) When your trust is all but shattered, when your faith is all but killed, you can give up—

michael paulson

And the next few times I heard him do the song in rehearsal, he’s still, like, you could feel, like, at that moment, his voice would catch. And he would have to work harder to get to the end.

nicholas edwards

(SINGING) —build a beautiful city, not a city of angels, but finally—

michael paulson

And so not only is the song moving, but knowing, like, how much it means to him, how much he himself had felt discouraged and afraid and hopeful and brave and alive—

nicholas edwards

(SINGING) —a city of man.

michael paulson

Yeah. I get lost in a way that, when theater works, you want to get lost.

nicholas edwards

So I tell you this. One of you among us will betray me.

michael paulson

You know, the show ends with this kind of mix of emotions. Jesus has been crucified.

nicholas edwards

(SINGING) Oh, God. I’m dead.

michael paulson

But then there’s this medley of songs as the community comes back together.

[music - "prepare ye the way of the lord" from godspell]

(CAST SINGING)Prepare ye the way of the lord.

michael paulson

And also, as the musical is trying to send people back into the streets, not feeling depressed—

cast singing

—of the Lord!

[CHEERING]

The crowd absolutely gives a standing ovation. [PIANO PLAYING] This, like, this enthusiasm, like, wow, they really did this. And wow, they were good. And wow, I really did this. I came back to a show. And I lived to tell about it.

michael paulson

So where are we now?

We’re still so far from Broadway restarting, from the kind of theater that so many of us used to see, where we sat cheek by jowl with other people in these old buildings. What we have is a small production of a 50-year-old musical under a tent in a rural corner of western Massachusetts. It’s not a sustainable path forward for theater in America. It’s not what we had before the pandemic. And it’s not what we hope to have. But I think it’s meaningful. It’s a group of actors. It’s a theater showing a way to make art, to see art for now. And it’s succeeding. The show has been selling out. It’s extended. So far, the actors have been safe. And the audiences have been safe. The union has even decided to allow a few more shows to go forward. They’re all small. They’re all in rural New England. But this time, they’re going to be indoors.

And for me, a guy who used to go see Broadway shows multiple nights a week, I’m now contemplating the possibility of renting another car and driving to the White Mountains of New Hampshire so that next month I can see another experiment in making theater during a pandemic.

michael barbaro

We’ll be right back.

Here’s what else you need to know today. On Thursday night, the city of Rochester, New York suspended seven police officers involved in the suffocation of a Black man in their custody, Daniel Prude.

archived recording

You killed a defenseless Black man, a father’s son, a brother’s brother, a nephew’s uncle. I mean, come on.

michael barbaro

Prude’s family has expressed outrage over the case, much of which was captured in a video showing officers placing a hood over Prude’s head and pressing his face into the pavement for two minutes.

archived recording

I mean, come on. How many more brothers got to die for society to understand that this needs to stop?

michael barbaro

Before he was detained, Prude, who had been suffering from mental health problems, ran out of his brother’s house in an erratic state wearing no clothes, saying that he had the coronavirus and spitting. Police who encountered him apparently placed the hood over his head to prevent Prude from spitting at them. And The Times reports that the Trump administration plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, capping a high profile investigation into whether the tech giant has abused its dominance over online search. The decision appears to be controversial within the Department of Justice. Most lawyers working on the case say that the charges are being rushed. But those lawyers have been overruled by the Attorney General, Bill Barr.

The Daily is made by Theo Balcomb, Andy Mills, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Annie Brown, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Jonathan Wolfe, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, Kelly Prime, Julia Longoria, Sindhu Gnanasambandan, MJ Davis Lin, Austin Mitchell, Neena Pathak, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Daniel Guillemette, Hans Buetow, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Bianca Giaever, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, and Liz O. Baylen. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Mikayla Bouchard, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Nora Keller, Mahima Chablani, and Des Ibekwe. That’s it for The Daily. I’m Michael Barbaro. See you on Tuesday, after the holiday.

“The whole industry needs this,” said Kate Shindle, the president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing 51,000 performers and stage managers. Shindle, who planned to attend the “Godspell” opening on Aug. 7, video called the musical’s actors on their first day of rehearsal with a message of encouragement, and of caution. “Not to put any pressure on you, but the entire American theater is depending on you to be really smart,” she said. “People are going to look to you to know that theater can happen without anybody getting sick.”

Image
The Berkshire Theater Group ordinarily stages multiple shows each summer; this year, it is putting on one musical, “Godspell,” in a tent erected in the theater’s parking lot.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

Theater, as an art form and an industry, is facing an enormous crisis.

Much of the way it has long worked — audiences packed side-by-side in confined spaces, storytelling that often involves intimacy, combat, and singing — seems to make it especially conducive to viral spread. Many theaters have pivoted to streaming, and some are putting on shows with nonunion actors, but even as other elements of society gingerly reopen, there is no clear plan for how or when Broadway and the nation’s regional theaters might do so.

That means many who depend on stagecraft for a living are now jobless. Employers — from big Broadway shows to tiny nonprofits — have lost revenue and laid off employees. Workers — from actors to ushers — have lost their income and, in a growing number of cases, their health insurance.

Equity agreed to allow the two Berkshire productions because the number of reported coronavirus cases in Western Massachusetts is low, and because the theaters agreed to implement a dizzying array of prophylactic measures for both workers and audience members. The monthlong production of “Godspell,” with 10 roles, is the more complex undertaking, because of the cast size and the perils of singing, which produces potentially dangerous aerosols.

Image
Tim Jones, playing Judas, dons a face shield for “All for the Best.”Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times
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The actors have different types (and heights) of seating in their “home bases”; Najah Hetsberger has a stepladder, which she used to relax on during a break in rehearsal.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

The 1971 musical remains enormously popular, with nearly 10,000 productions over the past two decades. Adapted from the Gospel of Matthew, the show focuses on Jesus’s uses of parables as a teaching tool; it has been staged in many, many ways (at a refugee camp, in a prison, among homeless squatters), and this production — spoiler alert — is set during the pandemic. The visible onstage public health measures — partitions, masks, social distancing — “become part of the parable of being a moral person,” said Matthew E. Adelson, the show’s lighting designer.

The acting company — 12 performers, including two understudies — range in age from 20 to 34. A few have Broadway experience, but most are at earlier stages of their careers. At least three, including Edwards, have had the coronavirus.

They are exuberantly grateful to be working. “I’m just so excited to perform for people again,” said Najah Hetsberger, a 20-year-old musical theater student at Montclair State University. “I haven’t done that for months.”

There are, of course, practical benefits as well. Dan Rosales, a 30-year-old who expected to spend this summer performing in the Off Broadway musical “Trevor,” said that, without this role, he wouldn’t qualify for health insurance next year. And Emily Koch, a 29-year-old who has performed leading roles in “Wicked” and “Waitress,” acknowledged, “I definitely needed the money.”

Over and over, they said they hoped success in Pittsfield would lead to more jobs for theater artists elsewhere. “This has to work,” said Alex Getlin, a 26-year-old New Yorker now spending her third summer at Berkshire Theater Group, “so more theater can happen in the rest of the country, and more of my friends can get back to work.”

But not everyone wanted to be part of this production. “They’re bold, and someone has to do it, but I don’t know that I wanted to be the guinea pig,” said Vishal Vaidya, one of three actors who declined an opportunity to be in the show. “My joke is, ‘Do I want to die doing “Godspell”?’”

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Instead of sharing supplies, each member of the company was given a plastic bin with a personal stash of pencils, sweat rags and other essentials in an effort to reduce the risk of virus transmission.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times
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Sanitizing props ...Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times
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... and musical instruments.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

On the day of the first rehearsal, under an open-air tent in Stockbridge, there were rules to be learned even before the actors opened their scripts: one person in a bathroom at a time; music stands 6 feet apart; individually wrapped bagels; personal bins of Sharpies, sweat rags, and sanitizer.

Kate Maguire, the theater’s artistic director, choked up as she offered a few words of welcome: “At this time in history, someone had to begin to tell the stories again.”

And then they began to talk. About the pandemic. About the Black Lives Matter movement. About “Godspell.”

“I’ve been alone in my apartment for four months, literally,” Filderman, 65, offered as a prompt and a confession. “I’m very nervous about my life, and my future.”

Stories, which Filderman would later fashion into a prelude, began to flow. Zach Williams, a 28-year-old Texan, had been touring in “Aladdin” when the pandemic hit. Tim Jones, 24, had just moved to New York; he returned home to Pittsfield and took a job delivering masks and gowns to nursing homes.

Kimberly Immanuel, 25, reflected on injustice. “I was sick of people staring at me as if I was the human incarnation of Covid-19 just because I’m Asian,” she said.

Edwards spoke of theater as a path through despair. “When Covid started, I thought, I’m just going to give up — I had panic attacks for days on end,” he said. “Art saved me.”

A deafening thunderstorm brought an end to that day’s rehearsal.

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The costume designer Hunter Kaczorowski, left, assisted by Elivia Bovenzi Blitz, right, at a fitting for Edwards. The designers changed gloves for each fitting, and wore face shields when particularly close to an actor.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

The show is being staged in a tent pitched on a gravel-and-asphalt parking lot beside the Berkshire Theater Group’s Colonial Theater, and that’s where most of the two-week rehearsal period took place.

Three mornings a week, the actors shuttled to the Berkshire Medical Center for testing. There was rarely any wait — this is a rural region — so they simply drove under a canopy, rolled down the car windows, and braced. Some shrugged, while others screamed; Hetsberger repeatedly yelled at the top of her lungs even before the swab hit her nose, saying doing so helped her endure the probe.

Each day there were complications (not just the virus, but also passing motorcycles, airplanes, rainstorms and bugs) and compromises.

“At first, did I imagine all these masks and all these partitions? No,” Filderman said. “But I do now, and I think it’s going to be really good, because it makes the actors feel safe, and it’s going to make the audience feel safe.”

To keep the actors apart, the wide, shallow stage is subdivided into 10 “home bases,” each with a seating element of a different height: a chair, a stepladder, a beanbag. Props are limited because none can be passed from actor to actor. Pandemic humor is built into the staging — during the vaudevillian number “All for the Best,” Jesus and Judas brandish yardsticks, rather than canes, and measure the distance between them.

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Isabel Jordan, left, and Hetsberger study the script at a “Godspell” rehearsal.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

The audience will be small — under Massachusetts safety standards, outdoor performance venues are allowed to admit only 100 people, including cast and crew, so the theater is expecting to sell just 75 tickets a night, at $100 each. (Ordinarily, the theater stages its biggest shows in a 780-seat house.)

The front row will be 25 feet from the stage, in accordance with the state’s protocols for performances involving singing. (The show’s music does not require wind or brass instruments, which are also thought to pose a risk of droplet transmission.) Audience members will have to submit to temperature checks before entering; parties will be seated at social distances from one another; and masks will be mandatory.

Among those planning to brave the restrictions: Stephen Schwartz, the show’s songwriter, best known for “Wicked.” “I’m just delighted that live theater is finding a way back,” he said, “albeit tentatively and cautiously, but finding a way at all.”

The tensest moment came on the seventh day of rehearsals. It was a hot one — 86 degrees — and show’s choreographer, Gerry McIntyre, was teaching the actors the steps for Koch’s big number, “Bless the Lord.”

Jason Weixelman, in his seventh summer as a stage manager with Berkshire Theater Group, didn’t like what he was seeing. Weixelman, 40, could never have imagined that a life in the theater would involve enforcing public health protocols just devised by the state of Massachusetts, Actors’ Equity, and the theater itself. But now he was concerned that performers at the front of the stage were at risk from those at the back, and he told Filderman that the partitions they had been using to separate singers next to one another might also be needed to separate the rows.

The cast was antsy. Filderman was frustrated. “I need to know,” growled the director, who was already deep into the first act, with barely more than a week until the first performance. “We need this clarified.”

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McIntyre works with Emily Koch on the song “Bless the Lord.” The translucent vinyl partitions are to protect her from aerosols transmitted by Dan Rosales, left, and Michael Wartella.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

Edwards, who is the elected liaison between the actors and their union, decided he was not going to wait for the creative team and theater officials to brainstorm best practices. He pulled out his cellphone and called Equity’s national headquarters.

The response was clear: Any time someone in the back row was singing, there would need to be a physical barrier between them and those in the front row. And any time actors were passing within six feet of one another — meaning basically every time a scene changed — they would need to wear a mask.

Filderman’s original conceit, in which the actors entered the stage masked, performed the show while socially distant but without masks, and then put on masks again when exiting into the offstage world, would not pass muster. “My concept for the show is gone,” he blurted out, “and life goes on.”

The first several scenes, which had already been rehearsed, would now need to be “Covid-proofed” — a phrase that, interchangeably with “Corona-proofed,” was quickly adopted by cast and crew. (Periodically, rehearsal would screech to a halt when someone yelled “Covid hold!” to raise a safety question.)

There were complications for the designers, too.

Hunter Kaczorowski, the costume designer, decided to tie-dye neck gaiters that could be used as face coverings during the show, easy to roll up and down without disrupting the head-mounted microphones.

Adelson, the lighting designer, was in charge of limiting glare off the partitions. And Randall Parsons, the set designer, managed the partitions themselves, rolling panels of clear vinyl that he called “spit guards.”

“We’re not ecstatic about this, but we’re doing what we have to do for the prime directive, which is safety,” said Parsons, who, like many of his colleagues, lost several jobs when the pandemic hit. “This is a new world for everyone. But I’m still like, ‘Oh my God, I have a show!’”

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Mark H. Dold is starring in “Harry Clarke,” which was planned to take place indoors, but had to move outdoors when Massachusetts decided it wasn’t ready to allow indoor theater to resume.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

Up the road, there were major complications for “Harry Clarke” as well. The play, starring Mark H. Dold and scheduled to open Aug. 9, was to be the first Equity-approved indoor production of the pandemic. And Barrington Stage went to great lengths to safeguard the theater: upgrading its air conditioning system to improve air filtering and circulation, removing most of its seats to ensure social distancing and replacing bathroom fixtures (to make them touchless) and assistive listening devices (to make them easier to clean). But, just six days before the first performance, still lacking permission from Massachusetts to stage indoor theater, the production decided it had no option but to move outside.

That night, much of the “Godspell” cast gathered on the porch of the large house where they are isolating — mystified by some of the restrictions (why could they sit on the stage floor where others had walked, but not on chairs where others had sat?), frustrated with all the changes (why didn’t they just do a concert performance?), worried that, at any point, the show could be shut down.

Michael Wartella, an elder statesman among the group as a father and a 34-year-old with three Broadway credits, reminded the others that chaos comes with theater. “There’s always stopped rehearsals with arguments and the director and choreographer screaming at each other,” he said. “This is just a different topic.”

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Much of the cast is living together in a large theater-owned house, and during the rehearsal period, they would spend evenings running lines on the porch.Credit...Bryan Derballa for The New York Times

Edwards, eating a burrito, cradling a script, and eager to get back to running lines with his castmates, listened as the conversation drifted from the legacy of AIDS to masking practices in Japan.

“We’re risking our lives, but if this finishes and we don’t get sick, then whatever we’re doing is working,” he said. “Theater needs to be saved somehow.”

Michael Paulson is the theater reporter. He previously covered religion, and was part of the Boston Globe team whose coverage of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. More about Michael Paulson

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section AR, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: It Really Is Day by Day, in the Berkshires. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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