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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:20] Mo Brady: As the Broadway shutdown passes its catastrophic year anniversary, Megan Ort reflects on being one of the world's few employed ensemble actors in 2020. As the female swing and Christine Daaé understudy in the world tour of The Phantom of the Opera, Ort had the distinctly rare experience of being on stage in 2020, navigating international travel and abiding by strenuous health code practices in order to perform for sold-out audiences throughout Asia. An experience unlike any other, Ort explains what it was like to perform amidst pandemic fears while watching her home country become devastated by the disease from afar.

[1:12] Megan Ort: I think to put it in the most basic terms, it was very much right place, right time for The Phantom of the Opera World Tour. Our company left Busan, South Korea in February for a scheduled layoff, and this was exactly when South Korea had their Daegu outbreak, which made world news as one of the largest hotspots out of China. South Korea had unfortunately been hit hard by MERS in 2015, and consequently, they were actually quite prepared for something like COVID. They acted fast and early with their pandemic response plan, and shockingly, by the time Phantom returned in March, cases were relatively under control. Also, our management and producers did a phenomenal job following all the guidelines from the KCDC and adhering to the orders from the local government in Seoul.

And throughout the chaos, management did everything they could to keep our company informed and safe. So I think it was definitely a combination of luck, a lot of luck, our company's deferral to the experts, and also kind of this huge leap of faith that we all took as a company to return to South Korea in March, despite the huge outbreak that was happening in Daegu while we were away in February.

[2:31] Megan Ort: To provide some context, Phantom opened in Seoul on March 14th. So this was just two days after Broadway announced its one month shutdown. And at that time, the whole world still had so many questions about the virus, you know, how it spreads, who's at risk, what the symptoms are, and whether it's safe to gather. So emotionally, it was kind of a roller coaster. I mean, my union at home was adamant that theater was not safe for actors and audiences. So how could it possibly be safe for me to perform in Seoul? And the US government and the CDC declared South Korea a level three. So I was thinking, did I make a huge mistake by even coming here? So it didn't necessarily feel safe to be overseas at the start of a global pandemic. But as some time passed, and pretty quickly, it became clear that South Korea was one of the safest places to be.

[3:36] Megan Ort: When we opened in Seoul on March 14th, I honestly did not fully realize the historical impact our show was making. For all I knew, our production was going to get shut down just like Broadway. So yeah, I didn't think that six months later, South Korea would still be one of the only countries able to support live theater for major musical productions. And it felt so surreal. I was literally one of the only employed theater actors in 2020. It was insane. And in a way, we were pioneers. And I was really proud to be able to keep theater alive. And we were that kind of beacon of hope for people. But at the same time, there was a lot of uncertainty. Especially in the beginning, and an inherent element of risk.

Precautions for both the actors and audience included track and trace, temperature checks at the door, masks, extra hand washing, air sanitizing, and no interaction between cast and audience at the stage door. Surprisingly, we were able to have 100% capacity for most of our time in South Korea, according to the government. And based on the local infection rate, we did not have to space out the audience. So that was pretty mind blowing. The track and trace system in Korea is really remarkable. I would automatically get these alerts on my phone to let me know I might have come in contact with an active case. And in addition, our company would also submit track and trace forms to our management each day if we'd been anywhere other than the hotel or the theater.

So it was really systematic. And there were a couple times that we would get an email saying, hey, if you were in this neighborhood during this time, we're going to set up a COVID test for you. And in general, COVID tests were readily available quite early on. So if a company member ever felt unwell, we had access to tests, isolation, and results within 24 hours. And these were PCR tests, not the rapid antigen tests. So it was pretty amazing that we had that level of testing available so early on. As for the audience, every member filled out a form for the theater. And the idea was that if any audience member tested positive, then all the patrons who had been seated around that person would be notified and tested.

That never ended up happening, thankfully. They also sanitized the entire building with this sort of fumigation spray. Government mask mandates were in place from the beginning. And honestly, I'd hardly ever see a human in public without a mask on. It was an amazing thing to witness. It just felt like the whole city was banding together to fight the virus. And I'm just so grateful to the Korean people and to have been able to experience something like that. I actually learned that it's quite normal to see mask wearing in the wintertime, even not in COVID times. People just wear them, you know, as a sign of respect and keeping their germs to themselves and keeping others safe. So was really inspiring to be around.

Obviously, every employee in the company had to wear a mask at the theater for the duration of their time at work, except for the actors at the one-hour call. And the first row of the audience was much farther away than six feet, so I never felt too nervous about transmission between the audience and cast.

[7:06] Megan Ort: Because of all these huge investments in safety precautions, the actors were able to do our jobs as usual, like no changes to the blocking or anything. That being said, I was definitely afraid at times. It's not like we were wearing surgical masks while performing, so I did consider the stage to be a place of high risk of transmission for the actors. Unfortunately, we did have a positive COVID case in the cast a few weeks into the run. It's possible that we brought it in from outside the country when we traveled from that layoff in February to Seoul in March, because at that time, South Korea was not requiring quarantine for incoming travelers. So there was a clear protocol in place. I woke up to an email saying that there had been one positive case in the cast, and I was under government-surveyed quarantine, could not leave my hotel room.

And then this kind of COVID SWAT team in hazmat suits came to our hotel and escorted us one by one to the roof for testing. It was kind of nuts. I felt like I was in a sci-fi film or something. It literally looked like E.T. So yeah, after that round of testing, an asymptomatic case was discovered in another cast member. So both active cases were taken to a government quarantine hospital and had to remain there until they produced two consecutive negative tests. Meanwhile, the rest of the company had to stay in quarantine in the hotel for two weeks. So yeah, even though the remainder of us were negative, we could not leave our hotel rooms. We had to collect our trash in hazardous waste bags. We did not have the option to quarantine with a friend.

And the KCDC burnt our bedding and fumigated our rooms afterwards. That's how seriously Korea was taking the virus. And to be honest, it was kind of freaky and felt a little invasive for how much the government.

[10:41] Megan Ort: After our South Korea run, Phantom finished out 2020 in Taiwan, and by the time we arrived in November, Taiwan had no local infections in over 200 days. So that means there might be a few cases in quarantine that they stopped at the border from incoming flights and stuff; otherwise, pretty much no COVID anywhere else. It was wild. In order to even get into Taiwan, you have to test negative before your flight, do two weeks of quarantine at a government-approved facility, report temperatures to the authorities, and test negative before your release. So Taiwan was essentially basically COVID-free, and I just couldn't believe our luck that Phantom got to perform there. I was just so relieved knowing that I couldn't infect my co-workers.

We could actually go to crowded night markets and bars and attend concerts with no masks on. I absolutely loved the world tour experience. Before this Phantom tour, I had only visited Western countries, so I didn't exactly know what to expect going in. It turns out that I enjoyed the international travel so much that I ended up spending two full years in Asia and the Middle East. Our sit-downs were really long, so I felt like I actually lived in these places. Our schedule had a ton of golden days, which are the days off where you don't have to travel, so I could really get out there and explore. And because the set takes some time to get shipped between countries, I would usually have a few weeks off between runs, so I would take that time and hop over to another country.

It was really, really cool. The theater culture really differed from country to country. Certain audiences would be very quiet, out of respect, while others were very audible throughout the performance. In Korea, sometimes I'd be like, oh, is there anybody out there today? But then the curtain call would come around, and it would be the most thunderous applause, and like we would be giving extra bows. We also had an amazing fan base in the Philippines. The Manila stage door made me feel like a total rock star. These people were so generous with their fan art and their energy, and sometimes they'd be singing for us. It was amazing. The Tel Aviv curtain call was also a favorite for us because even though there's no music for the phantom bow, every single audience would be clapping completely in sync with one another.

I'd never experienced a curtain call like that, so that was so cool. Our final stop in Taiwan was really incredible as well. We played this massive arena. I think it seated like 6,000 to 7,000 people. They had to even put up these jumbotrons on either side of the stage so people in the back could see the show, basically. And during our final performance, the audience surprised us, so we took a selfie with the audience so we were facing upstage. And then when we turned back around, the whole audience had flashlights and their phones lit up, and we all just gasped in awe just to see this giant ocean of people gathered all together in the middle of a global pandemic and just knowing we were among the few people able to do something like this at this time. Gosh, I still tear up when I think about it.

[14:27] Megan Ort: Tour life is definitely one of the most bonding experiences a person can have, I'm convinced. And this company really came together like nothing I've seen, in part because we had to. You know, it was COVID. We had people from all parts of the world, people from Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the list just goes on and on. Working in such an international environment was hugely eye-opening for me, but especially during COVID, it was so fascinating to hear the news coming out of different parts of the world, you know, hearing how everyone's home countries were responding and faring and what everybody was experiencing from their own personal worldview. Yeah, we were a global company working in a global pandemic, and sometimes we only had each other to rely on because travel advisories and quarantine mandates made it almost impossible for loved ones to come visit us. So we really had to support and trust one another to get through.

[15:46] Megan Ort: I've been back in the States since December. First off, I can't even begin to understand the struggles of theatre artists in the States this year. I can hardly imagine what it must have felt like to watch the whole industry come to a halt basically overnight, and I applaud everyone for persevering through this terrible time. The sadness that I experienced was obviously quite different. For the majority of 2020, I got to live a relatively normal life, but I did feel kind of crazed, you know, watching things unfold from across the world. As for me as a performer, I know I will be different. Performing through the pandemic had so many unknowns. It was a constant dance. So I personally am preparing myself for anything to happen at any time and expect the unexpected, because this is still uncharted territory for us, opening theatre in the States in the world of COVID.

I think that tragedy forces a lot of people to take stock, and for me, what is important to me has shifted slightly or perhaps come into stronger focus. So I know I will be much more purpose-driven in my art and whatever else I end up pursuing.

[17:14] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Megan Ort for sharing her stories with us today. The Ensemblist was produced today by Jackson Klein, Jason Forbach, Francesca Grinnell, and me, Mo Brady. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our archive, including full conversations with our guests and early access to episodes. You can join Cheryl Hodges Selden, Linda Lee, Phoebe Stort, and many, many more for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist. Thanks for listening. Until next time.