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| Renée Kathleen Koher and Nicholas Kuhn in Sweeney Todd Arizona Broadway Theatre photo by Scott Samplin |
Our series of "Quarantine" interviews, which focus on individuals involved in the Phoenix theatre community and their reaction to our current stay at home mandate, continues today with a conversation with on stage and off stage couple Renée Kathleen Koher and Nicholas Kuhn who have appeared in dozens of shows at Arizona Broadway Theatre and at theatres across the country.
COVID-19 has affected us all in many ways. The theatre community has been harshly impacted with show closures and postponements. We hope this series of daily interviews will be a way to provide some personal insight to what people are doing during this period of time while highlighting familiar individuals from the theatre community in town.
Was there a show you were in or involved with or preparing for when the stay at home
order started?
Renée: "Yes, I was in the middle of a contract with a theater in Mesa. I also had an upcoming contract with The Phoenix Theater Company that was supposed to start in April."
Nick: "Yes. I was set to be in The Rocky Horror Show with Phoenix Theatre Company. Rehearsals were supposed to start in just a couple weeks when the current situation arose."
How have you been personally impacted by our current situation?
Renée: "I think everyone in this world has been impacted in some way or an other. I have been impacted in the loss of work and income that I would have been bringing in, along with the ability to do my craft in the way it is meant to be seen. This situation has changed the world we live in, from daily tasks of how we go to the grocery store, to how we stay creative, to how we plan for our week/month/year."
Nick: "Being out of work is never fun. On one hand, I’ve enjoyed the change of pace and the slowing of my usually very busy life. On the other, I’ve missed having a sense of purpose in my day-to-day life. I’ve slowly felt the lack of drive weighing on me more and more as this has gone on. I’m use to waking up in the morning, ready to go, and knowing exactly what needs to be accomplished. Now, it’s hard to maintain that sense of purpose."
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| Renée Kathleen Koher in Mary Poppins Arizona Broadway Theatre photo by Scott Samplin |
How has your daily routine changed?
Renée: "I have turned my focus on other things… instead of trying to get everything around the house done before a certain time before I have to pack up and head of to my shows at night, I have found my routine being more spread out over my day.. I still do all of the things I used to do, clean, cook, practice my music, etc. but know I am trying to space it out through-out the day."
Nick: "My daily routine hasn’t changed as much as some people’s probably has. The biggest difference for me is my inability to go to the gym and work out, and not being able to get together with friends. Otherwise, I tackle a lot of projects around the house like I normally would, now with my full, undivided attention though. I like to code and build Web Applications. It’s a great creative and critical-thinking outlet for me. I’ve had tons of time to do that so I spend a good chunk of my day working on those projects."
What do you feel will be different when theater restarts?
Renée: "Oh boy. I hope that people will find a new appreciation for live theater. We as artists have been doing our best to continue to stay creative and bring art into homes via the Internet. But it is not the same as being in a theater and having a live performance unfolding in front of you. I also hope that we as humans will become more aware of how much the arts matter! I think live theater will be very different for awhile, at least from an audience stand point.. I don’t know what measure theaters have in mind for keeping their facilities clean, and safe for their patrons but I am sure that this is a huge topic of conversation right now for theater owners and their staff."
Nick: "It’s hard to say for sure what all will be different when it all comes back. What I truly hope happens is that people will appreciate the theatre on an even deeper level than they did before all of this. That’s not to say they didn't before! But in this new realm we’re in where the word 'essential' is used on a daily basis, I hope people will start to feel as though theatre (and really The Arts as a whole) is an essential part of their lives. I think that theaters have a massive undertaking in front of them in figuring out how to come back from this. Even once they get that green light to do so, how do you know enough of your patrons will feel comfortable enough to come back and put themselves into a large gathering of people? What measures are they looking for you to take so that they feel safe and protected? It’s a daunting task to say the least. All of this is really a round-about way of saying I don’t know what will be different, but it will almost definitely have to be something. We are in a new 'normal' now. I think you’ll see a lot of theaters turning to smaller scale shows at first to cut back on overhead costs and mitigate the losses of having smaller audience sizes. I also think people who are a part of the full-time staff at theaters may have to take on multiple jobs in order to cut costs and establish a baseline
operation at first. It’s all crazy. Ultimately the power to “control” how different it all will be lies in the hands of the patrons. And I sincerely hope that they are more eager than ever to have that live theatre experience be a significant part of their lives once more."
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| Nicholas Kuhn in Xanadu Arizona Broadway Theatre photo by Scott Samplin |
When do you think that’ll happen?
Renée: "Honestly I have no idea… I am preparing for the idea that I might not be back on stage until next year…. I am hopeful that that will not be the case, but I think everything is just so unsure at this time. We don’t know what this virus will do in the summer, we don’t know what will happen once things start to reopen.. for now I feel like I need to sit back and observe… and be prepared to not work for a long while."
Nick: "I think it will be at least a few more months… Based on the information we, as the public, have been receiving, it feels like they’re learning something new about this virus every day. That doesn’t exactly help in making a definitive decision on when to reopen things. Unfortunately, it’s all that we have to work with. Like I said in my last response, I think it will depend heavily on the willingness of the audiences."
What have you been doing to stay creative during this time?
Renée: "I have been keeping myself busy! Nick and I have been self producing Saturday Storytime, through ABT.. So basically we have created our own home TV studio, and I create 30 minute episodes, where I come up with a theme and read two children’s books, sing songs, and do a craft that evolves around the theme. Then we film, and edit the material, and then ABT drops it on their FaceBook page every Saturday. It has been really fun to do, and takes quite a chunk of time out of my week! We have also been singing for multiple online Cabarets. We did our own concert through Brock-Pro Entertainment Called “Music Of The Night”… where we sang Classic Musical Theater Songs from our living room couch. It has been a great way for us to continue working on our craft and bring music into peoples homes during this crazy time!!!"
Nick: "Renee covered just about all of it, really. Like I said before I like coding and building Web Applications and that has been a nice creative outlet on top of the concert and story time episode creating ."
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Any binge tv shows you’ve watched?
Renée: "We are not big TV watchers… we did watch ALL of the Star Wars movies, and now have started to watch a bunch of The National Geographic Series… We are currently in the
middle of The Great National Parks. We also watched a documentary called Street Food Asia
which was AMAZING! And we do love Trevor Noah's The Daily Social Distancing Show."
Nick: "As Renee, said, I FINALLY watched all of the Star Wars movies!! I had seen some of them, parts of others, but never all of them in their entirety. So that was fun. Otherwise, we don’t watch a ton of TV. As she also said, we’ve been super nerdy and watched a lot of documentaries on National Geographic!"
Any new hobbies you’ve taken on?
Renée: "Besides building a TV studio in our home, and learning new computer programs to create all of these shows, I haven’t taken on new hobbies, but more like had the time to do old ones I never had time to do before like gardening, baking, cooking from scratch. I have always been a list maker, so I continue to do that and plan my days.. I think keeping on my 'routine' though slightly altered has been what has kept me sane during all of this!"
Nick: "I haven’t added a new hobbies, but I’ve definitely expanded on some of my pre-existing ones. I’ve always been an avid gamer and being stuck inside offers a pretty perfect excuse to play a lot of video games. Playing online multi-player games has been an amazing way to keep in touch with friends actually! The social aspect of it has been really great."
How has this experience changed you?
Renée: "I think it has reminded me of what is important in life, what is important to me, what I can and cannot do with out, how to creatively work around things that I was once used to having but now don’t. It has made me slow done, and reminded me to not take things for granted."
Nick: "This experience has reminded me that we all need to slow down a little bit. I’ve been able to call friends and family way more than I was able to before. I’ve tackled projects I hadn’t been able to get to. It’s been a nice reminder of what is actually important. It’s not that I didn’t have the time to call them before. I just needed the brain space to step back and see the bigger picture instead of being so focused on what was right in front of me. It’s been nice."
What is the one thing you’re most looking forward to when the stay at home order is lifted?
Renée: "I am first and foremost looking forward to seeing friends and family in person!! second, I am looking forward to going camping up north… we have been trying to do our best at playing by the rules, so we haven’t ventured out too far… but I would love to go spend some time in the woods!"
Nick: "Seeing friends and family in person is number one of course. A close second though is definitely going to the gym! I’m a very fitness-oriented person and have come to realize just how much I rely on being in the actual gym-space to stay motivated. I’m not holding my breath that gyms will be among the first things to re-open (in fact I firmly believe that they shouldn’t be!) But when they do I’ll be raring to go!"
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