The short documentary The Show Must Go On, created by filmmakers Paul Grant and Nathan Crane Cohen will premiere on March 13 at 8PM ET on Playbill and Playbill YouTube, to commemorate one year since the beginning of the Broadway shutdown. The streaming event is available to watch above.
The film follows the efforts of a resilient Broadway community, the Broadway Relief Project, who transformed itself into an essential business, producing over fifty thousand desperately needed medical gowns for the New York Public Hospitals. Combining skills normally used to create costumes and produce Broadway shows, the Broadway Relief Project supported frontline workers who were struggling to find personal protective equipment at the onset of the COVID pandemic, while simultaneously discovering how the power of community could bring hope and purpose in an unprecedented challenge.
Built from over 400 members of the Broadway community, the coalition continues to support the creation of PPE, engaging in creating The Singer’s Mask, The Instrumentalist’s Mask, and The Headset Mask, all of which have enabled artists to continue working on their crafts. In total, the Broadway Relief Project has made more than 250,000 pieces of PPE throughout the past year.
READ: Broadway Relief Project Donates Thousands to The Actors Fund
The free screening of The Show Must Go On will be coupled with an introduction and discussion between Jeff Whiting, owner of Open Jar Studios, and filmmakers Nathan Crane Cohen and Paul Grant, who also volunteered as a Broadway Relief Project member, reflecting on the past year, and the transition from rehearsal studio to PPE factory. The documentary will be available to watch through March 21, 2021.
