Over the past 48 hours, there has been a rising tide of positive sentiment about the return of the theater.

From the announcement on the Six twitter page to Chris Jones’ enthusiastic article in the Chicago Tribune, it feels like the Fall return for Broadway is for reals.

But there are two things that you can do to help get Broadway and theater back even faster . . . and one BIG thing Broadway can do.

Here’s what you can do.

Ready?

1.  Get vaccinated.

2.  Tell everyone you know to get vaccinated.

Simple, I know, but keep reading.

See, it’s clear to me (and has been for months) that Broadway will not return until the majority of the audience, if not the country/world, is vaccinated.

While other industries (e.g. professional sports) and even cities (e.g. Las Vegas) may come back sooner, that’s not going to be us. We don’t have the resources, the appetite for new technology, or even the government urging to get back faster.

We’ve always been, and always will be a giant steamship of an industry.  Our engines are old. We have many different types of personnel that don’t agree on how to sail the ship. And that makes it hard for us to avoid icebergs.

But rather than have our steamship sit idle in the water, there is something every theater owner, Broadway show, Off-Broadway show, union, ticketing site, etc, should do and should do now.

Since we CAN’T market our return just yet (since that return date is still TBD), I WOULDN’T market our return.

Instead, I’d turn all our marketing to “getting out the vaccination.” (We encourage people to vote, why wouldn’t we do this?)

If I was running the marketing department for all of the theater (insert evil laugh here), I’d ask every show to email their subscribers to tell them to get vaccinated. I’d ask those shows to post about it on social media, telling their fans that their favorite show will be back when they get vaccinated. And to share that message with their friends.

I’d create a “Got your vaccination?” campaign like “Got milk?”

But shows aren’t the only entities that should do this.  I’d tell every theater around the country to do the same. In EVERY state (especially those where hesitancy is a thing). Big regional houses, small community theaters, high schools, etc.

We all have one thing in common . . . we all need an audience. And that audience needs to be vaccinated.

I’d ask Telecharge to do it to send out a message to their millions of ticket buyers. I’d ask Ticketmaster to do it.

I’d ask everyone to do it. (My Streaming Stage Company list is going to do it – so if you’re signed up for that, you’ll see it coming.)

And by pushing vaccinations, we’d earn a few brownie points with the federal, state, and local governments, who are desperately trying to get this message out.

Oh, and double bonus . . . in addition to helping get Broadway back faster?  We’d also save some lives.  So there’s that.

So . . . . ask yourself . . . how can you spread the word (so we don’t spread the virus!).

If you want a social graphic that you can share, visit my Instagram and steal it.  Just promise to share it.

We’re gonna come back. But we CAN come back faster, and with bigger audiences, the faster the world gets vaccinated.

The health of our industry depends on it.

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Need info about how to get vaxxed?  Click here for full resources.