A ghost light is an electric light that is left on the stage of a theater when the theater is unoccupied and would otherwise be completely dark. A popular theatrical superstition is that every theater has a ghost, and some theaters have traditions to appease ghosts that reach far back into their history. One such superstition states that ghost lights provide opportunities for ghosts to perform onstage, thus appeasing them and preventing them from cursing the theater or sabotaging the set or production.
Many theaters forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic have renewed the tradition of ghost lights as a way of indicating the theaters will one day re-open. The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Canada has burned a ghost light through both the 1918 and 2020 pandemics.
On July 30, 2021 it was announced that Broadway audiences will need masks and proof of vaccination when shows reopen in the fall. Theaters will only reopen to 100 percent capacity. Audiences must wear masks except while eating or drinking in designated locations. The Metropolitan Opera plans to bar children under 12, who are ineligible to be inoculated against coronavirus. All of New York’s 41 Broadway theaters are mandating documentation of full vaccination before allowing indoor entry to patrons, performers, backstage crew and theater staff for all shows.
Exceptions are being made for children under 12 and people with a medical condition or closely held religious belief that prevents vaccination. These guests must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance start time, or a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken within six hours of the performance start time.
Pass Over raised the curtain on August 4, 2021 at the August Wilson Theatre. Proof of full vaccination was already required to get a seat at Bruce Springsteen’s sold out solo show seating 1,721, which opened on at the St. James Theatre June 2021. “A uniform policy makes it simple for our audiences and should give even more confidence to our guests about how seriously Broadway is taking audience safety,” League president Charlotte St. Martin said in the statement.