It’s our civic responsibility.
The studio requires proper mask wearing at all times. Please read on for more COVID policies.
UPDATE (5/12/2021): The Stella Adler Center for the Arts has decided to join hundreds of other educational institutions, including New York University with whom we partner, in mandating that our students are fully vaccinated from COVID-19 beginning in the fall (September 1st, 2021). Accommodations are offered for religious and health reasons.
Current Studio Status Regarding COVID-19
Summer students will benefit from the same world-class faculty as always, as well as the safety procedures we’ve been using for nearly a year. All studios are Zoom ready and all faculty have been delivering world-class training on video platforms with excellent results. Add to that free COVID-testing in dozens of locations across New York City and a robust vaccination rollout, and we are poised to have a summer that is both safe and soul-nourishing.
Workshops will continue to remain online only and will be reevaluated for the fall. Professional Conservatory programs will continue to operate in a hybrid model with the hope that full in-person training will take place later this year.
Actions you will take…
Wear a Mask: The studio is a space where everyone is required to wear a mask. Masks must be worn properly – covering both the mouth and the nose – at all times while in the facility.
COVID-19 Testing Every Two Weeks: Everyone who comes to the facility – including faculty, staff, administrators, and students – must be tested every two weeks and submit test results prior to being approved for entry to the studio. Testing is the responsibility of each individual. Staff has distributed resources with abundant information about New York Cit’s many testing sites. Please reach out to your program director if you need this information again.
Daily Health Screening: Prior to arriving at the studio, students and faculty complete a Daily Health Screening Questionnaire and submit a temperature check. When arriving at the facility, everyone must be cleared for entry at the reception desk before they advance through the space. A temperature check kiosk is also available if temperatures need to be re-checked.
Get Vaccinated: The Stella Adler Studio is embracing the science and is optimistic about the future. Many of the studio’s staff and faculty have already received vaccinations, and we would like to encourage students to get vaccinated as soon as one becomes eligible. The more the community is vaccinated, the more opportunities we will have to engage in-person. Please visit NYC’s Department of Health Vaccine Information page at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-vaccines.page.
Actions the studio has taken…
• PPE: Masks are required at all times and masks are provided for students/staff, if needed. Plexiglass partitions are in place in common reception/lounge areas. Signage directing where to sit or stand to maintain proper social distancing as mandated by NY State is used. There is additional signage throughout the spaces reminding all of social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing.
• Hygiene, Cleaning and Disinfection: Signs throughout the studio spaces promote frequent and proper hand washing. There are additional signs and instructions around expected protocols for the start and end of each class, which include students wiping down all surfaces they have been in contact with during class. All studios and spaces have disinfecting wipe dispensers in them (with trash
cans), and hand sanitizer stations outside. Designated staff are tasked with wiping down high contact surfaces multiple times during each day
• HVAC Ionization Filters: The studio has made a significant upgrade to the HVAC system which includes: larger Merv-13 filters which catch 43% of all airborne particles, Bipolar Ionization Air Cleaners which work to neutralize virus particles in the air, and rebalancing to ensure maximum airflow in each studio.
• Social Distancing & Small Class Sizes: Signage in common areas states clearly about social distancing practices and areas are marked with capacity limits. All studios have new capacities to enable 6-8 feet of social distancing. Floors are marked throughout the studio to represent proper spacing. The schedule has been changed to reflect that there be smaller class sizes and rotating in-person participants. As stated prior, all classrooms are equipped with video suites which allow remote learning and in-person learning to continue hand in hand.
• Vulnerable Populations: All classes may be participated in remotely by students or faculty as each studio is equipped with a video suite for streaming and all administration may transition to remote work, if needed. This allows vulnerable populations the flexibility to participate safely.
• Operational Activity: Stella Adler Studio is ready to move to fully remote operations at any point. As we have already been working remotely, we have the protocols for both classes and all administrative duties in place. As stated prior, all of our classes will have the possibility of being blended (meaning some participants present in the physical space and other participating
remotely).
• Communication: An Administrative Covid-19 team meets daily to discuss updates and protocols. If any changes need to be made, based on new circumstances or NY State mandate changes, we will then send out all changes and updates to the community at large, via email.
Welcoming back audiences…
Safety protocol
This summer for the first time since the pandemic, the studio is welcoming audiences back into its theaters. The health and safety of the community is a top priority. We ask all audience members to review the following safety protocol in advance. Please note: these requirements will be strictly enforced in the interest of the health and safety of all. We reserve the right to deny admission to patrons who are not in compliance with COVID safety protocol.
Vaccine verification
All audience members must present verification of vaccination (CDC card, copy of card, or Excelsior pass) in advance AND at the entrance to the facility.
Feeling sick
If you are feeling sick, please stay at home. Your thoughtfulness will help to stop the community spread and allow us to continue to responsibly go back to the theater together.
Small groups
The capacity of the theaters will be limited to 33%.
Social distancing
Ample space will be provided for social distancing in the common spaces and hallways before the show AND inside the theaters. Please leave chairs where you find them as they have been placed with social distancing in mind in advance.
Mask compliance
All patrons must wear masks in common spaces, but may remove masks once seated in the theater.
Reserved audience members only
There will be absolutely no walk-up sales or last minute reservations.
Actors
Actors will either provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result before each show.
No food or drinks
Please leave food and drinks at home.
Inside the facility
There are hand sanitizer stations in common areas throughout the facility. The studio has also recently upgraded its HVAC system for maximum air flow. Routine surface cleaning is practiced multiple times per day.
A Letter From Tom Oppenheim in 2020:
Over these past weeks I keep returning to Harold Clurman’s words from his book The Fervent Years. An extraordinary group of actors and artists – including Joanna Gleason, Donna Murphy, Kate Mulgrew, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Danny Glover, Stephen Adly Guirgis – have come together to speak these words and I want to share the video with you.
It’s amazing that these words, written by Harold Clurman in 1945, looking back to the winter of 1932-33, speak so vividly and with such relevance to our own troubled times. It’s equally amazing that Harold Clurman looked out at a world in 1929 of economic ruin, with millions of Americans out of work, and thought “this is the perfect time to build a theater company!”
We dedicate this video to the medical workers for whom we cheer every night at 7pm, who save lives while providing us all with an example of how to live a life and how to make art. May our theaters soon be filled with such life giving, life affirming work! We also dedicate it to all essential workers, the backbone of our country.
Finally I hope this video stimulates and inspires young people, by virtue of Harold’s words and the voices and example of the work and lives of the participating artists, to search, as the members of the Group Theater did way back when, for reasons to be! and ways to give!
We stand in solidarity with the heroic health care workers and essential workers and with each and every one of you.
Sincerely,
Tom Oppenheim
Artistic Director
SOUL SUSTENANCE
“The strength I drew from this period of apparently aimless ambling through the dark of depressed areas in place and spirit was crystalized for me one day when I was struck as if by a miracle of conversion with the feeling that no matter how bitter things became for me, personally, professionally, economically I would never allow myself to be destroyed from within; it would never get me down; I would sustain all kinds of disappointment and distress without ceasing to believe, to hope, to love. I would never yield to the temptation of pessimism, to the ease of despair or withdrawal. It was as if I took an inner vow
never to allow, gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowing of the spirit.
I believed, as some ancient had said: ‘it is not within thy power to to finish the task, nor is it thy liberty to abandon it.’ From this inexorable maxim I drew an abiding joy. In this sense I swore fealty to myself.
Thus that historically cruel winter of 1932-33, which chilled so many of us like a world’s end, became for me a time of renewed faith, because I seemed to be withstanding a sort of test.”
HAROLD CLURMAN, The Fervent Years
