Our series of "Quarantine" interviews, which focus on individuals involved in the Phoenix theatre community and their reaction to Arizona's stay at home mandate, continues today with a conversation with Valley actor Damon J. Bolling.
The COVID-19 virus and the recent protests in support of racial injustice have 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 into 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?
Bolling: "I was in talks for some upcoming directorial projects - but I was not rehearsing a production at the time. We were out of town when this all went down! My husband was speaking at the Nevada State Bar conference, conveniently located in Bishop, California lol (they frown upon holding a law convention in a state that has legalized gambling.) Bishop is about 1/2 from Mammoth Lakes and so I go skiing during the day while he attends the conference. On the first day, the governor of California declares a state of emergency that: No group larger than 50 people may congregate in a public space. We were in the car the next morning, headed to home to Phoenix. It's a 9 hour drive, so we stayed over in Las Vegas- braved one of their local Costco’s- loaded up the SUV and hunkered down for the next 2 months. "
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| Damon J. Bolling in Company photo courtesy Desert Foothills Theater |
"FOUR of my family members in Los Angeles all tested positive, as a cluster, for COVID 19. My Grandfather who will be 90 in September, his wife, and two of his children (My Uncle and My Aunt.) My Grandfather was in a skilled nursing facility having had surgery 2 weeks prior to the pandemic. We couldn't see him or get him out of the facility in time. It turns out he contracted Corona-virus there, and when my Aunt and Uncle were tending to him at home, they then contracted the Virus, as well as my Grandfather's wife. My Grandfather and my Aunt were then hospitalized, while my Uncle and Step-Grandmother skated by with severe cold-like symptoms. Fortunately, everyone is home now and on the mend!"
How has your daily routine changed?
"I am at home now, so I have become VERY domestic! It turns out I am busier now than I was when I was going into the office every day. I am accomplishing a lot of home repairs and organizing neglected rooms in the house. "
What do you feel will be different when theater restarts?
"Well, this is indeed the "million dollar question." It's something that comes up almost daily with all of us. I don’t think we’ll see fully staged shows until we have the infection rate under control. There will be a lot of cabarets, and out door concerts for now. Things that Fountain Hills Theater is doing. To get back to before, we first we have to look at several factors, and the first (I believe) begins with TESTING. We cannot forecast the need for social distancing if we don't have a handle on our numbers. How do you social distance a cast/block a show with actors 6 feet apart? In order to get back to “normal” we need to address not only the creative teams and patrons but the internal operation as well. How do you ensure the safety of the ENTIRE organization of a theater from house attendants, box office team, operations team, ushers, and artistic and executive teams? So: Testing, Testing, and more TESTING made available to us. Second, if we had the technology for all social events like theatre, sporting events, and concerts to ensure the safety of each individual like:
a.) body temperature scanning (similar to a metal detector) everyone walks through and it scans for fever.
b.) a VACCINE! Having an ID card that you’ve been vaccinated would let you go straight to the front of the line, and if you don’t have get vaccinated, you could have an ID that you tested negative within the past 48 hrs or antibody test ID clearance, we would be able to gather in large groups again; but we need those resources readily available. Kind of like a passport! You can get creative with removing seats from existing houses- but if the show is pre-sold, how do you tell which patrons get to stay it get refunded? How do you decide that? What if they all bought their tickets at the same time?"
When do you think that’ll happen?
"Sadly, I don't believe we we will be back in the full swing of things, until 2021 "
What have you been doing to stay creative during this time?
"I have been dabbling in my songwriting skills- Chanel Bragg told me about this great app, and I started writing these silly little song snippets, about different experiences with our quarantine from baking to running out toilet paper! Kind of like SNL song parodies. I tried to sing in different genres from R&B to Epic Anthems. I had a good time writing them and I was REALLY humbled by the response from the community. A friend of mine noticed them, and sent them to her producer at fox 10 morning and they did a feature story. I called them Silly Quarantine Songs. I wanted to make people laugh and have fun at our quarantine unusual circumstances. We have to find the humor, and if I could make people laugh- I did my part!"
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| Damon J. Bolling, and cast, in Into the Woods photo courtesy TheaterWorks |
Any binge tv shows you’ve watched?
"Yes: ALL of the MARVEL MOVIES (in order!); Unorthoxed; Love is Blind, Tiger King (of course) Upload, Fleabag, Killing Eve, Hollywood, and currently watching Mad Men (second time through for me.)"
Any new hobbies you’ve taken on?
"Baking. I can make a flan with my eyes closed, and a pie from SCRATCH- crust and all. We have found great gluten free/sugar free alternatives using almond flour and monk-fruit sweetener instead of sugar. We have enjoyed staying in and cooking dinner together. It’s been nice. I’m getting better with my green thumb, nowhere near my grandmother it my dad- but I’m getting there!"
How has this experience changed you?
"Well, we are now experiencing 2 events as history unfolds. One: Covid 19. Maintaining social distancing and quarantining, learning to ZOOM as the new normal, visiting my mom and not being able to give her a hug or a kiss, not seeing friends in person and TWO: the racial injustices and social unrest being perpetrated to our communities of color here in this country, yet again. As a person of color who is Latino and African American, I am starting to see an awakening with my white friends- and THEY are starting to see the injustices through a new and URGENT lens, and are being pushed and tested to the limit, that we as people of color we have always felt, (even in the theatre community) and are starting to say, "ENOUGH!" What I DO know is, that art HEALS, and together we can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We are past DIALOGUE. We have had allllll the dialogue, we wrote/starred in/sung about- all the plays, movies, songs, and television shows about this. We don’t need to talk about injustice anymore, we know it exists. It is right in front of our face. That's not working anymore. We need to FIX THIS. We need to DO SOMETHING. TOGETHER. I know we can."
What is the one thing you’re most looking forward to now that Arizona and most states have lifted the stay at home order?
"I got a haircut 2 days ago- I haven't had one since January. That was long overdue, and I wanted to wait until June 1st. This is far from "over" but all of the studies suggest that we may have peaked, but given the recent numbers..who knows? I still wear a mask, and practice social distancing, but I have to confess what I REALLY want is a pedicure. I've been running around this house barefoot for 2 months wearing T shirts and Swim trunks all day, like I'm on vacation! Toe nails are in check, I’ll never let that get out of control, because I wear flip flops a lot: but my feet are ROUGH! LOL. No lie."
Thanks for sharing Damon! It's always good to hear what you're doing.
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