New and Novel Experiments

A photograph from one of Quantum Theater’s recent productions

Quantum Theatre pivots to digital programming, with a series of characteristically boundary-pushing works, while planning for a return to live shows. This is the third piece in an eight article series by Sean Collier on the state of Pittsburgh’s arts and culture scene during the COVID-19 pandemic, presented with support from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Experimentation, growth and discovery are essential to any thriving, vibrant arts organization.

In normal times, anyway. In 2020, those ideals often take a backseat to sheer survival. Yet Quantum Theatre, the boldly experimental company that for 30 years has railed at the boundaries of traditional theatrical presentation, has found ways to experiment, grow and discover, even amid changed and still-changing circumstances.

“We’ve tried to up the ante each time,” says Karla Boos, Quantum’s founder and artistic director. As the company has moved through an unexpected virtual season, consisting of four digital-only shows, their technique and presentation has been refined and expanded. “We explored the technology. And we chose works that would lean into exploring technology.”

A guiding question: “What can we do to preserve what it is that makes it feel like theater to us?”

Quantum’s virtual season began in June with “Love and Information,” a collection of “micro-plays” by Caryl Churchill presented in 30-minute chunks. To ensure an entirely COVID-compliant process, the show was performed — and filmed — by seven pairs of Pittsburgh-based performers already living in the same household.

What was remarkable in that initial production, Boos says, is seeing actors interact for the first time in months — without a screen separating them. “It’s just satisfying to watch two actors in the same space touch each other,” a scrap of normalcy made more resonant by knowing the show was comprised of “theater artists from our community, working now.”

Cohabitating performers also served as the cast of “Constellations,” Quantum’s second virtual program. In that show — an exploration of love, quantum entanglements and (to an admittedly lesser extent) beekeeping, by Nick Payne — three pairs of housebound actors took on different scenes as the same characters. (The play is normally performed by one couple.) “Wild,” a drama centered on the whistleblower Edward Snowden as he hides in a Russian hotel room, followed; unlike the previous shows, Quantum brought in a crew to handle filming the show.

“Wild” also marked an advancement. The show, written by Mike Bartlett, was presented as though Snowden and a pair of unreliable helpers were being monitored through surveillance systems, a move that both justified the presence of the cameras in the reality of the show and dovetailed into its Big-Brother themes.

The virtual season is scheduled to culminate with “Far Away,” also by Churchill; it’s set for a February run. Boos sees it as another evolution of the company’s digital offerings.

“Far Away, I think, will look more like a film — but it won’t look exactly like a film that you could tune into on Netflix. I think it will retain its theatricality.”

The shows have been well received, and have brought not only the company’s regular, local patrons but also audiences from around the country.

Stewart Urist, Quantum’s executive director, says audiences are tuning in at levels that rival the attendance of a traditional performance. “We’ll reach between 2,500 and 3,500 with an in-person show,” he says, noting that “Love and Information” had 2,700 viewers and “Wild” reached 2,500 on its initial run.

Unfortunately, equivalent audience numbers do not mean equivalent revenue. “I could comfortably say over $150,000 [has been lost], between ticket sales and sponsorships and ad sales” for the company’s postponed productions, Urist says, as well as the delay of an annual subscription campaign.

“We’re lucky, in a lot of ways,” he says. “We don’t have a big venue where we have to keep the lights on ... we don’t have a lot of fixed expenses.” Unlike the majority of arts organizations, “We haven’t had to furlough anyone.”

Hopefully, that continuity of staffing and mission will make for a natural transition back to live, in-person performance. “Let me go on record to say how much I miss gathering with people,” Boos says. “It is incredibly important to me, and I think to most people.”

In the early summer, with case numbers low and hopes for a swift recovery high, Quantum explored the possibility of mounting an outdoor production in August 2020. That show, “An Odyssey,” remains on the schedule, set to take place at the Schenley Park ice-skating rink; only the year has changed, with the production now set for August 2021.

The hope is that “An Odyssey” will serve as the second production in the physical half of this divided season, preceded by a production of “The Current War,” tentatively scheduled to take place in Westinghouse Park in June.

“Do I think that 100 people sitting, with distance, in Westinghouse Park, outside, to experience something in late May and June of 2021 might be possible? Yes. Yes I do,” Boos says. “I’m sure that there is going to be a need to allow some people to stay home longer than others, who will go out sooner. I think that we are going to have to be able to record our work,” she adds, noting that advancements in understanding of digital delivery will be a boon for elderly or immunocompromised members of the community even after the pandemic.

“The Current War” could serve as an apt return to form. The play, by Pittsburgh-born playwright Michael Mitnick, follows the feud between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse in the early days of electric power. (A little-seen film adaptation was released in 2018.) “What I love about it is it’s such a good fit for Pittsburgh,” Urist says. “This is a great one to re-launch into.

“I think we are all ravenous for that moment — to be together in a theater space and watch live theater again.”

Until then, Quantum will focus on refining “Far Away” and explore the possibilities of other activities. These could take the form of self-guided, audio explorations: Over the summer, the company led audience members on a story-driven walk through Schenley Park using a series of pre-recorded messages. That experience, dubbed “OK Odysseus,” served as a preview for “An Odyssey.”

“We loved that project — in some ways, we may have loved it most of all,” Boos says. “We spent so much time exploring [Schenley Park] and thinking about that physical space — and we felt like we were giving people a window into the project that will be and a window into the park with us.”

Quantum will also continue supporting restaurants and shops through their “Near Buy” program, which sends audience members to buy meals and more from businesses in the neighborhoods where the company plans to mount shows next year. “We had to pause live theater production, but neighborhoods are incredibly important to us,” Urist says. “That’s been our 30-year journey ... inspired by and in dialogue with those sites.”

Looking ahead, as Quantum has steadfastly continued to do throughout the pandemic, is fraught with uncertainty. “We really hope that people are strong enough to emerge on the other side — and that there won’t suddenly be 30% fewer performing companies, or performing companies that have to really reset back 10 years in their evolution,” Boos says. “That’s how I feel. I feel like a parent worried about my child missing formative time.”

Still, there is room for hopefulness — and even a quiet note of optimism. “But maybe that parent also says, ‘Well, I’ve loved that child and I’ve encouraged that child to find new things, walk outside and listen to the birds’ ... the new benefits that we can’t quite see are going to replace what we’ve lost.’”

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