5月下旬,切削球剧院是努力工作putting together its latest play, “The Real Sappho.” A new work by Oakland playwright Aimee Suzara, the show would be the San Francisco company’s first in-person production since the COVID-19 pandemic forced live theater to a halt more than two years ago.

切割球是里脊肉中的一家小型剧院公司，仍然是湾区的最后一个尚未返回实体舞台的剧院。该公司的剧院负责人特别兴奋地在骄傲月份进行面对面的复出，并由有色和酷儿观点的艺术家驱动的创新制作。

“The Real Sappho” reimagines Archaic Greek poet Sappho — the queer icon, the “Tenth Muse,” “The Poetess” — as a woman of color living in fictional, modern “Oak-Island.” Suzara, who is Filipino American, depicts Sappho in a way that challenges previous representations of the poet and highlights facets of her identity which have seldom been explored, including Sappho as a lover, teacher and mother.

“艾米（Aimee）确实在面对许多过去的叙述，我们从白人那里讲述了关于萨普（Sappho）的关于萨普（Sappho）的叙述，”切球发言人埃斯特拉·埃尔南德斯（Estela Hernandez）说。

“ Sappho”定于6月9日直播，直到7月10日，这并没有削减Ball首次尝试返回现场剧院的尝试。另一部戏剧是“老实说，我从来不想用棒球棒比现在更多地用棒球棒殴打某人”，尤利亚里亚德·剧本（Juilliard）剧作家摩根·古尔德（Morgan Gould）最初定于一月份进行面对面的比赛。

当由于Omicron变体涌动后，将“ Bash”重新安排为跌倒时，将重点和高希望转移到“ Sappho”上。

“We were fully committed to going forward in person,” said Jess Koehn, the company’s general manager.

切球谨慎地进行。

“We had air purifiers, we had strict testing, we had masks, we cleaned everything constantly,” Hernandez said.

Still, COVID cases began to emerge among members of their team, and the company made the difficult decision to postpone opening night by two weeks.

他们失望但并没有舒服，他们向前迈进。然后，在他们修订的开放前一周，更多的演员和工作人员被感染了。

顾客服务经理Sharisse Taylor解释说：“正是我们甚至无法在开幕之前进行技术技术，”演练音乐和照明提示的过程。“所以节目实际上不可能发生。”

因此，该公司制作了最后一分钟的枢轴，将“真正的Sappho”更改为虚拟阅读。投入时间的工作时间和服装设计被取消，预期的一个月跑步缩短到只有两个晚上。

COVID had delayed Cutting Ball’s return to live theater once again.

“It was heartbreaking,” Taylor said.

这部戏还引起了团队成员的深刻共鸣，使“ Sappho”的虚拟过渡更加令人沮丧。

“I identify as a nonbinary lesbian, and having a show around the lesbian moniker really doesn’t happen,” said Koehn. “Even in the queer history circles, there tends to be a focus on the gay men, and the lesbian issue isn’t the same as the gay male issue.”

Suzara’s depiction of Sappho is immensely meaningful. Unapologetic and self-assured, Sappho, played by Jeunée Simon, is reintroduced to the world as a human being whom queer individuals, especially lesbians and people of color, can relate to today — an embodiment, a celebration, a validation of queer existences.

“You hear the name ‘Sappho’ and you’re automatically intrigued,” said Taylor. “When I told everybody about (the play), everyone was so excited because she’s an icon. It was going to be very queer- and woman-of-color-driven. We were putting voices out there that needed to be voiced.”

对于切球，Covid最令人沮丧的影响是无法以艺术家合作的全部潜力来讲述此类故事。然而，他们发现了一线希望：该公司很感激他们仍然能够以某种身份分享苏扎拉的比赛。

“At least the story still gets to be told,” Hernandez said. “That’s what’s important.”

该公司希望确保他们的风景优美，道具，照明和服装设计师的工作也不会被未被承认。在阅读开始之前，介绍了显示各种设计过程的照片的幻灯片，这使观众瞥见了无法转移到虚拟设置的艺术性。

All the while, the company is managing to stay afloat, though the pandemic creates undeniable hardships for the small nonprofit. As season subscribers never got the opportunity to visit the theater in person this year, some are opting for refunds on their passes. Combined with lost ticket revenue as a result of moving “Sappho” online, Cutting Ball estimates it has lost $15,000.

但是该公司仍然希望以“狂欢”的身份在秋季重返现场表演，而切球仍然致力于将剧院带到观众，无论是亲自或在线上。

埃尔南德斯说：“我们想给观众和艺术家以及我们自己 - 剧院。”“很难做出我们的工作。”