New Village Arts Reinvents Itself

Amid the Pandemic

by Tatjana Juskov
July 20, 2020

New Village Arts Theater is a small 100 seat theater in Carlsbad which was in the middle of a production of Jen Silverman’s “The Roommate” and just one day away from its Annual Fundraising Gala when the lockdown was announced on March 13th. 

A lot has happened since this theater went dark over three months ago but they won’t surrender. Quite the contrary, staff and artists are using that time to revisit their culture, reinvent themselves, and find new ways of getting creative while staying true to their mission “to serve its community”.

These are turbulent times for everyone and the picture we draw for the outside world does not always reflect what’s happening inside of us. When asked about the general morale of NVA’s artists and staff during this difficult time AJ Knox, an actor himself and NVA’s Director of Connectivity replied: “From my experience as an artist and arts administrator and throughout all the artists that I have been working with during the quarantine; I think it is a mix of everything. There is some depression, there is anxiety, there is a lot of creativity, there is hope. There are all sorts of emotions being experienced all at once. Which makes it a really powerful, a really difficult, and exciting time to be doing theater. […] For every instance of fear or uncertainty, there are also instances of hope and creativity. Everyone got to think about how we are going to sustain.” . (...Continued)