Mask theater…literally!

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The missus and I were thinking of taking in a play this weekend at one of the theaters listed below, but, we had no desire to spend the time wearing a mask so we nixed the idea. I was curious so I looked up the covid policies for a number of theaters around town. They’re free to do as they wish. I do wonder though how much business some of these are turning away. I can only assume they’re doing fine.

(This is not an exhaustive list of every theater in the Twin Cities. Also, some are not included here as I could not find any info on covid policies on their websites.)

Guthrie – Effective April 18, 2022, all audience members, regardless of age, must wear a mask that securely covers the nose and mouth (no bandanas, neck gaiters or face shields) when entering and inside the theater. Proof of vaccination is not required to see a performance at the Guthrie.

Ordway – Given the improvement in COVID-19 positivity rates and cases in our community, beginning on April 1 the Arts Partners will no longer require proof of vaccination or negative COVID test results in order to attend performances at the Ordway. Masks will also no longer be required, but will be welcomed and encouraged.

Children’s – As of April 23, 2022, to ensure the safety of our patrons, artists, and staff, Children’s Theatre Company will continue to require audiences to wear a mask in the theatre and lobby spaces. Masks must cover the mouth and nose and fit tightly to the face (no bandanas, face shields, or gaiters).  Proof of vaccination or a negative test is no longer required to attend a show at CTC.

Chanhassen – We highly recommend wearing a mask covering your nose and mouth when not eating or drinking.

Hennepin Theater Trust – Given the improvement in COVID-19 positivity rates and cases in our community, beginning on April 18, our theatres will no longer require proof of vaccination or negative COVID test results to attend performances at the historic Orpheum, State and Pantages theatres, The Hennepin and 824 Hennepin. Masks will also no longer be required but are welcomed and encouraged.

First Avenue – Effective Wednesday, June 1, 2022, concerts and events at First Avenue and associated venues will no longer require proof of a full course of COVID-19 vaccination, or proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

Park Square – Masks are required for theatre attendance except while eating or drinking. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test results are no longer required to attend performances.

Theater in the Round – Masks are always appreciated in our space, as the intimacy of our venue increases risk of transmission to other patrons and our artists, which could lead to illness and/or cancelled performances. TRP reserves the right to require masks for audiences and/or participants if requested by the cast and crew, guest artists, workshop instructors, volunteer supervisors, for specially designated performances

History – All audience, artists, and staff members will be masked regardless of vaccination status.

Old Log – We recommend the use of facial masks for all guests inside our theatre that are unvaccinated

Jungle – We have been in conversation with our theater colleagues in the Twin Cities area, and like many of them, the Jungle Theater will be requiring masks for audience members, as well as proof of vaccination or proof of negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of showtime.

Yellow Tree – Along with many other performing arts venues across the state, we will now require Proof of Vaccination from all audience members (digitally on your phone, by email or paper). All audience members are also required to be masked inside regardless of vaccination status.

Illusion – Please note that you must provide proof of vaccination or a negative covid test conducted in the past 72 hours of the event you’re attending. You will be asked to present this with your ID when you enter the building. You must also wear a mask at all times inside the building.

Mixed Blood – All patrons, including children, attending Mixed Blood performances must either show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 (at least 14 days have passed since the final dose), or proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken in the prior 72-hours. On-site testing will be available on a first come first served basis before every performance. All patrons, regardless of vaccination status, must always wear masks over their nose and mouth while inside the venue.

49 thoughts on “Mask theater…literally!”

  1. Perfect illustration of the left wing dominance in the theater/arts industry. They have all been conned by Dr. Mengele FAUXCI, who finally admitted that the vaccines were pretty much useless. That said, along with their media fear peddlers, they are already trying to set the stage for another round. We can except it to ramp up to full blown panic mode in late September into October. These people lead pretty pathetic lives and need to always be “directed” in work and in life by their gubmint.

  2. Timely column, Jeff. I just got another begging letter from the Guthrie. Please give us money because nobody is paying to see our crappy offerings under our draconian regulations. Uh, no.

    My wife and I have enjoyed a Fall birthday/anniversary celebration at the Chanhassen for 35 years but with Covid rules ever in flux, we’re reluctant to buy tickets several months ahead only to be told we can’t use them without mask, vaccine, social distance, stand on head, flap arms, or other silliness.

    A family friend has four decades’ experience doing wigs for local theatres. She says the performing arts have been devastated by the ham-fisted response to Covid. Yes, but the actors’ union insists on strict measures to keep actors safe which ends up keeping actors unemployed.

    Virtue signaling has a cost, but it’s not borne by the executives sending the signals. It’s borne by the backstage crew, the waitresses, the customers.

  3. Is MPR still requiring its listeners to wear masks while tuning in on their car radios?

  4. I moved out of Highland Park three years ago. I was in Highland/Mac Grove last night. I saw 4 people wearing a mask outdoors. Most of the patrons of Walgreens and Oxendales grocery store were wearing masks.

    They can wear one if they please. I think they want to keep this up.

  5. Joe is right on target. In most cases, the union members have to pay their dues, but the execs don’t make any sacrifices themselves. I have had several discussions with long time union members that have never looked at the financials of neither their local, nor the national organization. This stupidity is why the DemoCommies voted to bail out union pension funds, particularly the Teamsters. They mis managed that fund badly and their members now have to wait 2 more years to retire.

  6. Virtue signaling has a cost, but it’s not borne by the executives sending the signals. It’s borne by the backstage crew, the waitresses, the customers.

    Well said, Joe.

    There is something else to be said here, the mask/pronoun/anti-racist/anti-capitalist crowd is extremely good at imposing their will, it is because they won the King Of The Hill Game with the cultural and media high ground.

    Not sure how to knock them off their hill, but here are a few scattershot suggestions:

    – End all public funding of “the arts”. It is just a private club run on your money.

    – Tax the trusts and NGO’s. As long as plumbers pay taxes, so should they.

    – Defund liberal arts and grievance studies at the Universities.

    – Locally, tell Glen Taylor, he is no longer welcome in Republican circles. If he wants to promote and defend Tim Walz, Keith Ellison and Ilham Omar, he can hang out with them.

    – Nationally, it is the pharmaceutical industry who fund the evening 5:30 pm newspeak…. so demand your doctor prescribe generic.

  7. I don’t go downtown anymore. Much less go to a virtue signaling theater.

  8. My wife and I were interested in attending the Lyle Lovett show coming up in Minneapolis. I was even willing to suspend my “do no business in Minneapolis” rule. Online ticket sales stated that masks and a vax card or proof of a negative test where required. Sorry, Lyle.

  9. Jeff, thanks for doing the work to put together this list. I often times have trouble explaining to people why it is that the metro area seems like another country (like say East Germany back in the 70s) compared to where I live. This is list is a great resource in addition to AlphaNews and MplsCrimeWatch.

  10. I guess masks are one good reason not to go to these theaters, seeing that the aerosol transmission of COVID renders them far less effective than one would initially think, but when we’re talking about the Guthrie and other state-assisted theater, probably an even better reason is because the product on the stage sucks. That happens when actors and such don’t need to rely on ticket sales to make a living–they relax on plot, character development, and all that.

  11. Even if there were no Covid silliness, the big stage offering at The Guthrie is Emma. Oh, I know that one, it’s Jane Austen, right? Not exactly. It’s Jane Austen ‘with a twist.’ Sounds ominous. Even the PiPress panned it.

    https://www.twincities.com/2022/06/25/review-guthrie-theaters-emma-is-no-great-match/

    Tickets are $80 apiece, plus parking, dinner downtown, the risk of getting caught in ‘mostly peaceful demonstrations’ . . . I’ll pass.

  12. Please ignore the fearful comments of those unable to consider practical real-world tradeoffs and optimizations, and the possibility of adopting several simultaneous strategies as supported by the clinical data. Especially those who ignore clear real world results and push misinformation hiding behind comparisons from different periods of time.

  13. ^^gibberish. If you have a point, make it. If you think that masks work, define what you mean by “work” and provide data.
    That’s what serious people do.

  15. We can’t keep forever masking and quarantining to prevent asymptomatic infection; we have to accept mild illness as a part of life with covid-19.

  16. All of the theaters mentioned by Jeff Kouba have different policies. None of them seem to do follow up, so even if the people who came up these policies created them using some best-practice protocol, there is no way to discover which policy actually is best. There is no control group.
    Many phrases can be used to describe these policies, but “science based” is not among them.

  17. We highly recommend wearing a mask covering your nose and mouth when not eating or drinking.

    Because when you eat and drink the magic virus does not transmit. Pure Science™!

  19. ^ Democrats — particularly progressives — are experts at losing elections by putting front and center their least popular causes.

  21. Junk policies from these venues parallels the junk science and policies suffered by us at the hands of MDH since the beginning of the Covid fiasco.

    Emery, as always you come off as a babbling buffoon!

  22. rAT Emery on July 15, 2022 at 11:36 am said: Please ignore the fearful comments of those unable to consider practical real-world tradeoffs and optimizations, and the possibility of adopting several simultaneous strategies as supported by the clinical data.

    rAt Emery on July 15, 2022 at 11:59 am said:
    We can’t keep forever masking and quarantining to prevent asymptomatic infection; we have to accept mild illness as a part of life with covid-19.

    Tell me this trailer trash wasn’t drunk before noon.

  23. For reference, masks work pretty good with larger organisms that are held in what is colloquially called “spit globules”, but not so much with aerosolized virii–that would be the typical coronavirus, and we knew that in the beginning of 2020. It’s a simple function of the size and composition of the virus.

    Which is why all those mask mandates didn’t work–masks only marginally reduced the virii spread into the air for hours. That’s also why all those arrows on the floor of buildings were counterproductive–they were actually guiding people into the peak areas with aerosolized virii.

    Oopsie.

  24. People in the arts don’t know jack about science. They’re great when it comes to following instructions from the Party.

  25. I just want to see the science.
    Scientific results are easy to understand. You have an x-y graph with an independent variable on the x axis and a dependent variable on the y axis. This is represented graphically as a curve.
    You show a mathematical formula that shows how whatever you are studying has influenced the shape of the curve. It’s all there, in words and math, for people to discuss and criticize.
    Some CDC drone on TV saying “masking and social distancing requirements are an important tool we can use to combat the spread of new covid variants” is not science. It is opinion, and it is not even the honest opinion of the CDC drone. It is what they are paid to say.

  26. From Marty Makarty, via Bari White’s commonsense website:
    At the NIH, doctors and scientists complain to us about low morale and lower staffing: The NIH’s Vaccine Research Center has had many of its senior scientists leave over the last year, including the director, deputy director and chief medical officer. “They have no leadership right now. Suddenly there’s an enormous number of jobs opening up at the highest level positions,” one NIH scientist told us. (The people who spoke to us would only agree to be quoted anonymously, citing fear of professional repercussions.)
    The CDC has experienced a similar exodus. “There’s been a large amount of turnover. Morale is low,” one high level official at the CDC told us. “Things have become so political, so what are we there for?” Another CDC scientist told us: “I used to be proud to tell people I work at the CDC. Now I’m embarrassed.”
    Why are they embarrassed? In short, bad science.
    The longer answer: that the heads of their agencies are using weak or flawed data to make critically important public health decisions. That such decisions are being driven by what’s politically palatable to people in Washington or to the Biden administration. And that they have a myopic focus on one virus instead of overall health.
    Nowhere has this problem been clearer—or the stakes higher—than on official public health policy regarding children and Covid.
    https://www.commonsense.news/p/us-public-health-agencies-arent-following

  27. Pingback: In The Mailbox: 07.15.22 : The Other McCain

  29. Part 1

    You can’t understand it because you’re not an American. I’m not talking about paperwork, I’m talking about attitude. You don’t have the American attitude towards government so our reaction to government baffles you, same as it baffles other foreigners.

    The relationship between Americans and our federal government is explained by the Constitution. Read Article I, Section 8 carefully, see the short list of things the federal government is empowerd to do, think how those things affect ordinary people living their ordinary lives. This is how the Founders intended things to work, how some of us still believe things ought to work.

    In those days, the interaction between a citizen and the federal government was virtually non-existent. I might pay a little more for legally imported goods than for smuggled goods, because of the federal tariff on imports. I might get a letter delivered by the Post Office. I might have a son serving in the Navy. Of course, I would use the federal coins as money and would vote every two years for Congress but since Congress doesn’t have much power to affect my life; my real interest would be my state and local elections.

    There’s nothing in Article I, Section 8, saying some federal bureaucrat can require me to wear a mask over my face in order to ride my covered wagon across state lines (or ride in an airliner, the modern equivalent). Even if the 16th Amendment was validly adopted – which I question – there’s nothing in Article 1, Section 8, saying some federal bureaucrat can spend that money on gain-of-function research in Wuhan and then mandate masks to slow the spread of the virus they enhanced.

  30. Part 2

    Ah, but mask mandates aren’t federal, they’re state or local. Yes, and those governments might have the power to impose mandates (depending on their local constitution or charter), but they don’t act of their own volition, they act on instructions from the federal government bureaucrats. For example, my employer has a mask mandate and vaccine mandate. When asked “Where’s your research proving it works?” the response is “We don’t have any, we do what federal bureaucrats tell us to do.”

    Unconstitutional action by proxy is still unconstitutional.

    Yes, but the theater mask mandates Jeff talks about are not federal, not state, they’re private businesses imposing their own requirements for entry. A private business can do anything that’s not forbidden by law. Agreed, and we as customers are free to complain about the policies – which is exactly what we’re doing here – and to shop elsewhere, which is what we plan to do.

    Why not wear the mask? Why not give a blood sample at the door? Why not hand over a copy of your medical records three days in advance, to buy tickets? Why not sacrifice your eldest child to gain admission?

    Go ahead. Not saying you can’t do it. Just not willing to do it myself. Nobody can impose those restrictions on me. I will walk away before I agree to virtue-signaling silliness and if your business fails, so be it. I will not submit.

    That’s the attitude of an American. Billions of people around the planet don’t understand it, some of them right here among us.

  31. Part 3 and end

    In Larry Niven’s sci-fi novel “Ringworld,” a human named Louis Wu is on an exploratory space mission with an alien, a ‘kzin.’ They discuss differences in government:

    Earth’s population had been stabilized, about the middle of the twenty-first century, at eighteen billion. The Fertility Board, a subsection of the United Nations, made and enforced the birth control laws. For more than half a thousand years those laws had remained the same: two children to a couple, subject to the judgment of the Fertility Board. The Board decided who might be a parent how many times. The Board might award extra children to one couple, deny any children at all to another, all on the basis of desirable or undesirable genes.
    “Incredible,” said the kzin.
    “Why? Things were getting pretty tanj crowded, with eighteen billion people trapped in a primitive technology.”
    “If the Patriarchy tried to force such a law on kzinti, we would exterminate the Patriarchy for its insolence.”

    That’s the American attitude, right there. If you don’t instinctively say, “Damn straight!” then you aren’t an American at heart. On paper, maybe. Not in your soul.

  32. What makes an American?

    Pledging to uphold The Constitution… it’s that simple.

  33. That link to the Mayo Clinic is junk, Emery.
    Not a single reference to research. Look at the first paragraph (aka thesis paragraph):
    Can face masks help slow the spread of the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Yes. Face masks combined with other preventive measures, such as getting vaccinated, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, can help slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
    “Can help to slow the spread”? Not “slow the spread,” not even “help slow the spread,” but “can help to slow the spread.” This about as conditional a statement that can be made.
    And then the Mayo doc just references CDC recommendations.

  35. I can’t for the life of me understand the hysteria over this.

    It’s because you’re a blithering, fucking idiot. Come to terms with that, learn to cope and be a happier idiot.

  36. When you’re like Swiftee, you don’t realize how thin the line is between colorful and crazy.

  37. “Emery on July 16, 2022 at 12:16 pm said:
    ^^ Did you wear a red rubber nose while typing your comment?”
    No, I wore my red MAGA cap. Can’t you see my avatar?
    The problem with our elites is that when they lost the ability to tell shit from shinola, they thought that everyone else did, too.

  38. You are exactly wrong, E, which explains your inability to understand anything we say here.

    Pledging to uphold the Constitution makes one a naturalized citizen of the United States. That’s paperwork. Anybody can do the paperwork, even ilhan Omar. Doesn’t mean the naturalized citizen is an American at heart, or that he or she understands what it means to be an American, our relationship with the government, our sovereignty as citizens, what makes us unique in the world.

    You are a paper American, Emery, not where it counts. Not in your soul.

  39. By the way, you needn’t feel bad about not being an American. Lots of other people living in this country have the same problem. Everybody in the Lesco Brandon Administration, all the RINOs politicians, the woke professors. Plenty of people just don’t get it.

  40. Those of us who do not take government propaganda at face value will take comfort from the fact that Pravda, until well into 1991, published articles predicting the imminent collapse of NATO.

  41. Re: “The problem with our elites is that when they lost the ability to tell shit from shinola, they thought that everyone else did, too.”
    July 16, 2022
    Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year award
    https://www.phillyvoice.com/lia-thomas-ncaa-woman-of-the-year-award-transgender-swimmer/
    Only a tiny percentage of Americans believe that a man, born with XY chromosomes and undergoing normal development into an adult male can
    be accurately described as a woman.
    No national Democrat politician will go on record as saying that Lia Thomas is a man.

  42. I find this statement from the cyborg PR people at the mayo clinic to be fascinating. How many hours were spent devising a statement that covered everyone’s butt and so provided as little actual information as possible?
    Can face masks help slow the spread of the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Yes. Face masks combined with other preventive measures, such as getting vaccinated, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, can help slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
    Let me rewrite it:
    “Can saluting the full moon help slow the spread of the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Yes. saluting the full moon, combined with other preventive measures, such as getting vaccinated, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, can help slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.”

  43. I was at the Saints ballgame last night. Place was crowded. The food service areas were busy with people in lines practicing about a 12″ spacing rule. People had to mildly negotiate there paths to get around in the crowd. Next to nobody wore masks. I can picture the arts crowd preening with pride as they sit masked throughout the evening’s affairs. I’d love to read the minds of the devotees wearing the M95 masks as they observe those with the loose fitting, gapped surgical masks.

    When I am required to wear a mask (only in medical facilities now) I pull out my crumpled, lint covered, ill fitting surgical mask and watch as the concerned give me the evil eye. It’s funny to note all those dedicated to mask wearing who don’t bother to do it properly. I guess it’s all “theatre”.

    Also, I have to wonder about masked children observing the majority of their unmasked peers. I can hear their complaint that “no one else wears one!” I suspect that I, as a kid, would probably feel like a freak. Their parent’s must feel extremely righteous.

  46. You seem to be confusing yourself with an intelligent person, Emery.
    I made no medical claims at all. I merely pointed out that the link you cite in your 9:29 on July 16 was crap, it did not say what you seem to think that it said.
    You don’t need a medical degree for that, you just have to understand how language works, and I will cop to having a liberal arts degree.

  47. ^ You can claim you weren’t wrong, but you clearly ignored the facts available at the time.

  48. Emery: clearly the dumbest person in the room and willing to prove it repeated on demand.

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