COVID-19 Closures: Nicole Gibson (Quinnipiac University)

The COVID-19 pandemic continues change the world as we know it. As closures and performance cancellations have put actors out of school and work, I’ve been reaching out to the artists affected. Here are their stories.

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Nicole Gibson

At my school (Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT), we do a New Play Festival in which we pick plays written by students that then get premieres in New York City to wrap up the mainstage season, and it’s always been my favorite part of being a theatre major at Quinnipiac.

I was going to be a director for the first time, and I was stage managing for the third year in a row -  I was so excited!

Before spring break all the directors and playwrights ran auditions, and we cast the show that same day. I didn’t get out until 1:30am that Saturday morning since casting these shows was such a crazy process!

As I was away on vacation and scheduling rehearsals at the same time (like many of my other directors), I got an email saying that our festival was up in the air as to whether it would continue.

We were already in such stress because we have to put together these shows in less than a month… and the fact that my classes are all going to be online and that we may not be able to go back on campus is so very stressful for me.

We premiere in late April, so I hope that we can make this festival happen since it’s our last one ever - myself, the other theatre major juniors and the participants want to end this school year with a bang.

We are all hopeful that the festival will continue because everyone is so excited to be a part of it, but this coronavirus has Quinnipiac’s mainstage season in jeopardy - especially for some of my friends, who are graduating soon and may not ever get to do a new play festival after this year.

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Nicole Gibson is a junior at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where she is pursuing a bachelor of arts in journalism and theatre studies. She is currently serving as a director and a stage manager for Quinnipiac’s New Play Festival, and will be participating in performance internships this summer, where she got noticed by Stella Adler and The Barrow Group. She has worked with The Barrow Group in stage management and directing, and she has worked with Standing Room Only Theater Company and the Quinnipiac Theater Program in performance skills.