Don Giovanni (2020, cancelled)

Production Coordinator/Assistant Director

Photos courtesy of Benjamin Werley

Performance & production credits

Don Deferred: A COVID Cancellation Story

Don Giovanni was slated to be the second main stage production during the Indianapolis Opera’s 2019-20 season. The cast featured several new faces to the company, as well as a few welcome returns. It was also the third production of Don Giovanni that I had been involved in following my role as a chorister at IU and playing Masetto at FSU. Everything was moving along well. I even recall telling my wife that I had not experienced such a calm rehearsal process in my career so far.

Then the coronavirus came. When we first started rehearsing at the beginning of March, none of us were expecting much out of the news story. However, being situated in Indianapolis helped bring the reality of the situation to our door fairly quickly. The climate was being dictated mostly by sports at first, with the Pacers having to shut down on March 11 after the NBA experienced players with testing positive with symptoms. The Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament were cancelled on the following day, with both events taking place at some point in Indianapolis. Earlier that morning, the cast and company had discussed plans to move forward until the government decided otherwise, however the Governor made his announcement in the late afternoon that public gatherings of 250 were prohibited by Executive Order. Because of our intended venue, we would be forced to cancel our production.

The cast and company had discussions on how to move forward. There were many other companies that cancelled their productions earlier that week, and several that were even further along in the process than we were. By the point that our cancellation hit, we had completed the blocking and done fitting sessions with everyone in their costumes, but thankfully we weren’t scheduled to be in the theater until the following week. Everyone collectively came to the decision that some recording of our work should be captured before most would scatter to return home.

For that reason, we took the day off on Friday to allow everyone to recover, and then came back on Saturday, March 14 to make a recording of our final room run of the production. Everyone fittingly dressed in black to mark the occasion, which was recorded on video by Dustin Jenkins. Even though some choristers were unable to come for this final gathering, I was able to reassign several bits of action while also stepping in at several occasions to fill in for someone. Thankfully since I knew all of the chorus music, I found the job relatively easy enough to manage.

The rehearsal was maybe one of the finest runs we had conducted, and many people ascended to a level of delivery that was marvelous to behold. When the final note resounded, the room broke out in applause, as the small assembled audience of staff and a few special guests cheered on the principal artists, the staff, and the choristers for their wonderful efforts. People stayed in the room for nearly an hour talking, clearly not wanting the moment to go away.

Still, by Monday morning, props were being stored, set pieces were broken down for storage, costumes were returned, and tape was pulled. By Wednesday, you would be hard pressed to tell that rehearsals had taken place in the room a week earlier. All of the non-local artists returned home, and restrictions in Indiana became even more precautionary, as the public gathering order moved from 250 to 50 or less. There are few realities in which our show could have gone on, but with quick-thinking and smart decision-making from everyone on the team, we were able to capture something that showed what we did.

The production was cancelled and does not immediately have a planned remount date, although that goal was stated at the time.