Performing Arts

Nomadland's Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win an Oscar for best director. Chris Pizzello/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Laurie Anderson, an artist and performer whose work spans disciplines, channels her emotional past into transformative art. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Twyla Tharp, shown above at Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2008, says the pandemic has impacted her body: "In terms of routine, discipline, just ordinary day-to-day activities — the body doesn't know itself at the moment." Marc von Borstel/PBS hide caption

Blindness is a sound and light show based on a book by José Saramago. Helen Maybanks/via Bodeau/Bryan-Brown hide caption

Sasha Velour stars in The Island We Made, an opera composed by Angélica Negrón and filmed in a mid-century Staten Island house. Matthew Placek/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Music venues, like the Metro in Chicago, have gone through a long and uncertain wait for aid passed by Congress in December. KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Brandy Norwood and Whitney Houston play Cinderella and her fairy godmother in Disney's beloved production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Courtesy of Walt Disney/Storyline/Citadel/Kobal/Shutterstock hide caption

When we spoke with Karyn Meek back in 2017, she was production stage manager for the Tony-nominated musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. She's now enrolled in online grad school. Meek says as a stage manager she's used to solving problems before they arise. The pandemic is "a problem that not only can I not solve — I can't even see what next week will be," she says. Jeff Lunden for NPR hide caption