NJ Schools Resuming Plays, Holiday Concerts, With Masks In Place

NEW JERSEY — In school districts across New Jersey, drama club members and choruses are rehearsing for holiday shows.

For some schools, it will be the first time students have been back on stage in front of an audience in more than a year, because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the students, it is a happy prospect.

"The Drama Club is excited to announce their in-person performance for this fall," a message to the Brick Township High School community said earlier this month ahead of their show, a performance of three one-act plays: "Blind Date," "The Actor," and "When Shakespeare's Ladies Meet," Nov. 19 and 20 at the high school.

Across town at Brick Memorial High School, students have been working on painting the sets and rehearsing for "Beauty and the Beast," which is set for the first weekend in December.

"We are excited to announce that tickets are now available," the Mustang Players announced earlier this month.

For students who want to pursue careers as actors or vocalists or in dance, performing before a live audience is the goal. Presenting a show successfully after weeks of preparation and rehearsals is stressful, but the immediate feedback from the audience means everything to a performer.

Taking the stage in the coming days and weeks in schools, however, is complicated in New Jersey by the pandemic rules requiring masks be worn by visitors, students and staff in school buildings, as set out in Gov. Phil Murphy's Executive Order 251.

Pandemic restrictions, including gathering limitations that effectively eliminated in-person audiences took those live performances out of the picture in many districts and replaced them with socially distanced virtual performances and other creative solutions.

In the Manchester Township Schools, for example, a middle school performance of "The Addams Family Younger Part" last spring was filmed on green screen using small groups of students.

"This video was put together on backgrounds with special effects so the students appear to perform together," the district said in describing the production. "We were able to adhere to our pandemic guidelines and still produce the show."

The Nautical Stars, the Toms River High School North theatre company, performed "A Killer Party: A Murder Mystery Musical," also virtually, with the students appearing from separate rooms as part of the plot of the murder mystery. It was filmed over the course of nine days, on location at a student's home.

As they return to the stages, school district performing arts programs are receiving guidance from Arts Ed NJ, a statewide arts education resource, policy and advocacy organization.

"There are no prohibitions on indoor performances," said Susan McNamara, the director of planning, research and evaluation for the Brick Township Schools, who has overseen the district's response during the pandemic. "But there are performer and audience considerations."

She said the district's performing arts staff, including the directors of the theater programs at Brick and Brick Memorial high schools, are working to balance all of those factors.

"Both directors for our shows have purchased clear masks for the students to wear," McNamara said. "They're trying to be reasonable about implementing the guidelines."

The guidance from Arts Ed NJ "is based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New Jersey Department of Health, and research findings from the International Coalition of Performing Arts Aerosol Study," the New Jersey School Boards Associationsaid in a memo to school districts.

The ongoing study is looking at how far droplets carry from the mouths and instruments of performers to assess the risk of COVID-19 transmission to other performers or audience members.

It is because of that study that Arts Ed NJ says student performers need to wear masks.

"Masks should be always worn by all staff, volunteers and crew," the guidance said. Performers should always wear a mask, with some exceptions, such as those who play wind instruments — and the recommendation is for the instruments to have covers to prevent aerosols from being spread from the instrument.

Actors should wear masks at all times, as should vocalists, Arts Ed NJ said, and microphones used where it's feasible.

McNamara said the masks were put to use during the district's recent unveiling of its Wall of Honor, which honors veterans and military service members from Brick who gave their lives fighting for the United States.

"Our high school chorus wore them the entire time," McNamara said.

The masks have a clear section that allows the person's mouth to be seen during a performance. The clear masks also have been championed by members of the hearing impaired community, who want to see the clear masks — or none at all — in classrooms, because many people who are hearing impaired rely on lipreading to understand what others are saying.

"The arts are an essential part of a complete education, no matter if it happens in the home, school, or community," the National Art Education Association said in September as it heralded National Arts Education week. "Students of all ages — from kindergarten to college to creative aging programs — benefit from artistic learning, innovative thinking, and creativity."

The mask rule will be in place for audiences, because of EO 251, and Arts Ed NJ "strongly recommended" not providing refreshments during performances.

Other guidelines included a recommendation of offering additional performances to allow for smaller audiences and more physical distancing; physical distancing for performers as where it's feasible, and limiting the time length of performances.

"Performances held in smaller classroom settings should be no longer than 50 minutes," Arts Ed NJ said. "Performances in larger spaces (multipurpose rooms and auditoriums) may increase the performance time with good ventilation."

And, when it's feasible, the performances "should not include an intermission. For theatrical performances that include an intermission, spaces should be set up to allow audience members to socially distance themselves."

One thing that will be different from the requirements for attending professional performances: audience members will not have to provide proof of vaccination. That "does not apply to school performances," the organization said.

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