Safety concerns drive decision, CTG committee says

From the Colorado Theatre Guild:

The Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Committee has decided that it will not be judging what would have been the rest of the2020-2021 season due to safety concerns for the judges, to be fair and equitable towards all productions that could not be judged in 2020 or in the first six months of 2021, and the need to be fiscally responsible for our members and for our organization.

The Henry Committee and the board will continue to do strategic work on the Henry award process (structuring, training plan, and finding systems that ensure the safety of those judging productions and those producing work). By taking the necessary break from active judging for the rest of the season, we can truly address concerns that have been brought to us over the last few years such as inequities and biases that have occurred in the judging process, the desire for judging immersive categories, and organization of communication flow for judge requests.

Many of our judges are in the high-risk categories, and caseloads across the state have spiked significantly since October of this year. Even with a safety process available for them to follow (confirming negative test results, reporting/checking in with the Henry Coordinator, contact tracing if a judge has been exposed or is exposing others to COVID-19), it is against most ordinances now to have gatherings that could cause further public health crises.

Read the full statement.