The ghost light
does not sputter or fade.
It stands as a sentinel
dynamite stick, whose
bulbous flare attracts
moths and phantom players.
The faceless clock
without hands cannot call
the actors to places.
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Costumes from “Tina: The
Tina Turner Musical.” The stage
has been silent for 395 days.
Metropolitan Opera House
Wigs from operas past and future. The last production held on this stage was Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” on March 11, 2020.
Metropolitan Opera House
Wigs from operas past and future. The last production held on this stage was Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” on March 11, 2020.
The Public Theater The set of “Coal Country,” designed by Richard Hoover. The production was shut down nine days after opening.
Rows of theater
seats, covered with tired
fabric, today have
the appearance of padded,
worn tombstone slabs.
Ghosts of seated audiences
with the remembrance
of theatrical things past.
Smudged lipstick
kisses on the quick-change
dressing-room mirror.
Costume dummies
standing as mysterious
as Stonehenge.
Metropolitan Opera House Mannequins in storage backstage.
Among the alleys
and canyons, a lost city, where
overcrowded civilizations
once thrived with
light and storytelling.
Walter Kerr Theatre “Hadestown” Kay Trinidad’s dressing area. All performances have been cancelled through May 30, 2021.
Metropolitan Opera House Though some performing arts spaces remain closed, workers nonetheless keep guard over the lobby and the Grand Staircase.
On the anniversary
of your demise,
I am pounding on your chest,
O my fabulous invalid!
Come back!
Re-enter our ruined orbit.
We are handing
you back our hearts
to be broken.
Walter Kerr Theatre André De Shields’s dressing room for “Hadestown.”
I need the collective
unison of gasps, the shared
narcotic of laughter.
Return to me the inability
to catch my breath again.
Open padlocked playhouse
doors, where my name
is carved on the shuttered
box-office window.
Vineyard Theatre The set remains from “Dana H.” by Lucas Hnath, the show that was running
when the theater closed in March 2020.
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre The proscenium arch for “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.”
Allow, with the pricking
of our thumbs, the
rumble of the floorboards,
the dousing of the ghost
light, allow the cry:
Open locks, whoever knocks!
Walter Kerr Theatre A balcony view of the set of “Hadestown.”
Devin Oktar Yalkin is a photographer based in New York City.
Tazewell Thompson, an award-winning director, playwright and librettist, is the chair of opera studies at the Manhattan School of Music.
Cover image is of the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
