Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2020 - 37

As many companies are streaming
their productions to share performances
and maintain audience relationships,
so too can virtual technologies like
Operamap help us to imagine a new way
of lining up rental pieces and interacting
with design and production teams. In a
period when minimizing business travel
may become the reality, the industry will
need to prioritize newly inventive approaches to virtual production work.

Period Corsets
Sabrina Notarfrancisco

Work continues at Open Jar Studios on gowns and
PPE. | Photo courtesy Open Jar Studios.

three weeks that very same studio would
be home to a flurry of non-stop activity,
working to create medical equipment
for those fighting against this virus. On
Broadway, we specialize in doing the impossible onstage, so it only makes sense
that we should do the same thing during
in this crisis."

Operamap
Anne Hiatt

In regular times, traveling for production
meetings or scouting productions can
cost performing arts companies tens of
thousands of dollars annually, in addition to travel hours. Now, these environmental and labor efficiency concerns are
accompanied by newly highlighted public health issues raised by the COVID-19
pandemic. Conversations about shifting
the way we approach rentals and collaborations began for the Operamap

team at 2019 Opera Hack at San Diego
Opera. There, Bill Gregory, Anne Hiatt,
Victoria Robertson, Muntaser Syed, and
Emily Wells started tackling many of the
issues that have become urgent.
Their project, Operamap (www.
operamap.com), was to be presented at
USITT this spring, and offers one approach to identifying and solving these
environmental, labor, and cost challenges. Operamap is a virtual world
where designers, producers, and presenters can collaborate in real-time using a uniform database of virtual assets.
Constructed as a virtual marketplace, users (opera companies as well as individual designers and producers) populate
their own storefronts where fellow users
can browse 3D models of sets and other
assets available for rental.
Anne Hiatt remarks on the timeliness of this new approach to seeking
production rentals, "We think given the
new realities we are all adapting to, our
product is especially useful since minimizing business travel for the type of
production work it supports will be a
priority for any event-making entity moving forward." Hiatt specifically points to
the concerns of "public health, environmental impact, efficiency of labor output, and travel costs" when discussing
how this pandemic may shift our typical
processes.

A Seattle-based company specializing
in historical undergarments, Period
Corsets recently transitioned from corset-making to mask-making as a result
of the COVID-19 pandemic. "After suffering a steep decline in sales when theatre and film studios across the country
were forced to shut down, owner Hilary
Specht converted her small business
into a mask-making assembly line as a
way to assist in the crisis while keeping
her business and employees afloat. It
seemed like the most obvious solution
since she had the space, equipment, and
skilled labor, but finding mask specifications and buyers was a challenge," writes
colleague Sabrina Notarfrancisco, associate professor at Connecticut College.
"When the outbreak began,"
Notarfrancisco continued, "there was
a chaotic amount of information surrounding the efficacy of masks and their
construction. No one could agree on
what type of hand-made mask was best
and there were concerns that cotton
masks might do more harm than good."
Furthermore, finding health-care systems willing to accept handmade masks
from small businesses also proved difficult, a frustrating discovery given the
health sector's urgent need for personal
protection equipment. As Specht researched ways to keep her business viable, she and her team volunteered to
make masks from home.
After two weeks of intensive research, a break finally came when
Specht discovered a video by Kaas
Tailored, a Washington-based upholstery
company-turned mask manufacturer.
The company successfully transitioned
into a mask-making operation after
Providence Health & Services contacted the company for help. Happy to
outsource, Kaas Tailored offered Period

SPRING 2020 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

| 37

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Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2020

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