The Slow Suffocation of the Performing Arts

If you’ve been to a play, symphony, opera, ballet, or musical in New York City lately, chances are you’ve been warned at least once by a worried usher to cover your nose completely at all times. Chances are, you’ve been given a mask at the door since you’ve stopped wearing one elsewhere (likely you were maskless at a restaurant before the show). Chances are, you’ve found this strange, a bit of an anachronism. Certainly I have, and quite recently. As Covid theater largely, though not entirely, disappears from public life, the performing arts remain slower to evolve.