Actors are being asked to suspend the tradition of greeting fans at stage doors, one of several steps that theaters are taking to limit the coronavirus threat on Broadway.
“We are highly recommending that all stage door activities be eliminated for the time being,” the Broadway League, a trade organization representing producers and theater owners, said on Tuesday.
The same thing is happening in the West End: a document sent to members of the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, advices the venues to introduce special measures for performers and other staff. Performers are discouraged from engaging in physical contact at stage doors, when actors often interact with fans at the end of a show.
Any autographs should be signed with individuals’ own pens, and theatres should implement a policy that means no guests be taken backstage, it states.
Also, hygiene measures will be intensified.