Seattle Rep (2020)

  By March of 2020, the entire Seattle community was on edge. A mysterious new disease called COVID-19 had started to spread throughout the United States, and Seattle was home to the first major outbreak in the country. Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director at Seattle Rep, noticed that patrons were increasingly hesitant to buy tickets for shows and RSVP for events. Cancellation and no-show rates had increased dramatically. Together with Artistic Director Braden Abraham, he convened daily huddles with the entire leadership team to stay ahead of the rapidly changing situation. It was during one of these huddles in Abraham’s office that the leadership team watched, with a mix of trepidation and relief, a broadcast of Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s press conference in which he announced the closure of the state and effectively cancelled all of Seattle Rep’s performances. The initial two-week shutdown was later extended through at least the end of the 2019-’20 season in June.  Prior to the