Earlier this year, COVID-19 hit like a slow-moving hurricane, shutting down businesses and communities in its wake. Even now, places Like restaurants, bars and theaters that rely on crowds are still reeling.

Among the hardest hit are those in the arts business – Broadway companies, musicians, dancers, visual artists and more. With all the challenges many artists already face, they are likely to be among the most resilient in such a crisis.

Following are stories from some arts professionals who in some way have had a connection with Blumenthal Performing Arts, whether as student performers or as a member of one of Blumenthal’s resident companies. They talk about what it’s like being in their field, how they are coping with the pandemic and their outlook for the arts.

Ask Thomas Laub where he was born and raised, and he’ll tell you Spirit Square. He got involved in many Blumenthal Performing Arts programs after he started acting in a middle school production of Beauty and the Beast and got hooked.

“I was lucky enough to be growing up in Charlotte, where I was able take advantage of all the amazing programs offered by Blumenthal and Charlotte Children's Theatre,” Laub said. “I performed all throughout high school and then decided I should go to business school.”

Now, at 23, he’s already a theater producer in New York City with a production company he founded a few years ago – Runyonland Productions.

Before COVID-19 hit, he worked full days and into the nights, catching a show on some evenings, and now he says performing arts is in limbo, like so many other fields.

“It’s incredibly tough, and 98 percent-plus of our industry is completely out of work with no resuming date in sight,” Laub said. “However, we are seeing the devastation this virus is wreaking on families and communities across the country, and rather than wallowing in that feeling of helplessness, I've been endlessly inspired by the Broadway community who has mobilized to assist in a multitude of ways across the country, from raising money for food banks to starting voter registration initiatives.”

Laub sees two crises that have to be dealt with before performing arts can blossom again. “COVID is one of those, and there’s a lot on that front that’s out of our control. However, we can and must dismantle the systems of white supremacy that the entertainment industry has subjected BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists to for generations – and that is very much in our control,” he said. “From casting, to rehearsing, to producing, to directing, so much has to change. We See You WAT, Broadway for Racial Justice, and AFECT are just some of the groups I'd recommend learning more about, and we are working to be an active part of the change that must take place.”

If you were lucky enough to get tickets to Hamilton when it played in Charlotte in 2018, you would have seen Tyler McKenzie onstage. Ironically, Charlotte is where he was first introduced to theater after his family moved here from New York when he was 13.

“Broadway is still closed right now, so a lot of the art that’s being made is virtual, but it’s been fun to see people be creative, doing the outdoor performances, doing virtual performances, and really making quality art,” he said.

At the same time, McKenzie has hopes for change in the world of performing arts. “There is a huge emphasis ... to make theater more equitable and inclusive and diverse – that’s with the people onstage, that’s the stories that are being written, that’s even the audiences,” he said. “How do we make it open for everyone to come to the theater and experience that art and that storytelling that you can’t get anywhere else? I think this ‘intermission’ is a blessing for people to do the work and figure it out and see what we can do to make it more equitable.”

Bree Stallings grew up in a family of artists, so it was in the cards that she would be a professional artist as well. Her grandfather was Jack Sexton of JS Pottery, a well-known potter in the area.

“Growing up in his studio, I got to see that making art as a living is possible,” said Stallings. “My mom was a painter and she taught me how to paint. I was never discouraged from going into the arts – they always encouraged me.”

For artists in the Charlotte area, she said, “there’s a lot of money to be made and social capital to leverage.” That is, until COVID-19 struck.

“When the pandemic first hit, I lost a large five-figure mural project,” Stallings said. She later had to close her studio because of the government restrictions. “That was hard for me because I was finishing commitments I had. And having paintings spread out on my apartment floor, it felt like I was starting over.”

She got involved in some other initiatives, like the Black Lives Matter street mural uptown, and also joined three other local artists in leading the production of an upcoming Blumenthal Performing Arts initiative, “We Are Hip Hop.” “I’m really excited about it. Everyone is excited to have something to look forward to that’s in person.”

The pause in commissions actually gave her time to think more about the long-term vision for her business. “I was on an unsustainable streak,” Stallings said. “It forced me to pause. Now what work I do is work I want to do.”

Losses in her extended family coupled with the solitude of the pandemic have left her with a yearning. “I miss people. This is what makes me ‘me,’ and I just really crave that time again,” she said. “I hope that whatever the new normal is, that we value the arts culture and see the value of the city, and that it really brings us together. I miss that so much.”

When he was very young, James Kopecky struggled with severe allergy-triggered asthma, which prevented him from doing outdoor activities. His parents were looking for indoor activities for him when he went to his cousin’s dance class and found his calling. He has been dancing ever since.

After joining the Charlotte Ballet company six years ago, becoming the representative for the dancers, and then having a child a little over two years ago, he has had all new struggles – juggling his work and home schedules.

“I have to make sure I’m there for my personal schedule as much as my professional schedule,” he said. “Our schedule changes all the time, so it’s like making sacrifices here and there.”

Having a wife and a boss who are both understanding and supportive has made that easier, but as a 32-year-old dancer, Kopecky also struggles with not being as resilient as he used to be.

“I’m pushing my body to the max for six hours a day, and I come home drained,” he said. “It’s hard to keep my body from breaking.”

Since the pandemic has brought his work to a halt, his struggle now is staying occupied and keeping his body in shape.

“I’m just using my other artist talents and developing those – making lemonade with the situation,” he said. Even before the pandemic, he had been wanting to get back to his tap dance roots. “It’s a dying art form, but it should have an equal opportunity onstage more often. I’ve been thinking of ways to get it more inclusive or mainstream.”

He has also been dabbling with his own musical ventures, blending spoken word with beat box and choreography. On top of all of that, he’s also taking courses through his alma mater Butler University.

Looking ahead, Kopecky feels the performing arts will have to adapt and change by doing things like offering filmed versions of performances and perhaps moving more shows outdoors.

“I went to Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts two years ago … it’s a beautiful outdoor stage,” Kopecky said. “That was so fun for me to do. I think the audience gets a different feeling when outdoors watching a performance like that. I’d like to do more of that.”

“I loved the big sound of an orchestra and the excitement of a concert. I was what you could call an orchestra groupie,” she said. “(I) have autographs from nearly all of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, and lots of famous soloist and conductors from when I was a child.”

The violinist with Charlotte Symphony Orchestra started playing at age 4, and it was pretty much a family affair with her brothers and sisters learning stringed instruments, as well, and her mother playing piano. “We often played together as a group,” Frank said.

“I loved the big sound of an orchestra and the excitement of a concert. I was what you could call an orchestra groupie,” she said.

Frank went to North Carolina School for the Arts in high school, followed by Boston University and then Rice University for her masters in viola performance. She then began performing professionally and landed an audition for the Charlotte Symphony in 1997.

After all those years of watching and participating in live orchestra concerts, she’s suddenly having to get used to virtual performances.

“Playing at home in front of a camera is so different from a live audience in a large concert hall,” Frank said. “Playing my own part alone without the orchestra is almost disorienting. I'm so used to having the sound of all my orchestra colleagues around me – hearing it and feeling it – and I miss that sound and feeling.”

Frank has stayed creative during this time by broadening her music repertoire and other artistic talents. “I’m exploring music written for solo viola instead of the orchestral parts. I’ve also spent some time painting and drawing.”

She looks forward to the time when she can get back onstage with her orchestra colleagues in front of a live audience. “The pandemic has shown me how vital live music is to our well-being.” ◼