Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would be making a decision on whether to shut down Broadway shows or limit the capacity of theaters on Thursday or Friday.
In an interview on CNN Thursday morning, de Blasio said he was reluctant to shut down Broadway entirely and was exploring options of cutting down capacity, citing examples in Italy of patrons sitting further away from each other at events and moving others outdoors.
“I don’t want to see Broadway go dark if we can avoid it. I want to see if we can strike some kind of balance,” de Blasio said.
“What we’re trying to figure out is there a way to reduce the capacity, reduce the number of people. If we cannot strike that balance, of course you can go to closure,” he continued.
In a tweeted response from Actors’ Equity, Mary McColl, executive director of the union, called his response “unacceptable.”
”Unacceptable. Any response must put the workers first and protect the actors, stage managers and everyone who works in the theater,” the tweet reads.
There were 62 confirmed cases of coronaviruses in New York City as of Thursday morning. One of those cases includes a Broadway usher who worked as an usher at the Booth and Brooks Atkinson Theatres in recent weeks.
