Brian Stokes Mitchell on how theater community can rebound

While recovering from the coronavirus, Brian Stokes Mitchell began belting “The Impossible Dream” outside his Manhattan window every evening. That beloved show tune could be an appropriate theme as workers in live theater wait to return.

Mitchell has a double reason to dream. In addition to being an idled Tony Award-winning performer, he serves as chairman of the national human services organization The Actors Fund. He calls the past 138 years of the fund “a dress rehearsal” for these desperate times.

“People have been incredibly generous, and I would almost use the word ‘surprisingly,’” he says. “I use that word because people are always incredibly supportive and fun, but just because everybody’s hurting now.”

Despite losing one of The Actors Funds biggest revenue streams — a special performance from each Broadway show — it has distributed more than $20 million in emergency financial assistance to more than 15,000 people since March 18, 2020.

While movie theaters have recently reopened to smaller audiences, Broadway’s 41 theaters remain closed and Mitchell fears the true recovery can take years.

“We’re all going to have a little PTSD that we are going to have to get over and before we all feel safe,” Mitchell said.