Hello all,

It is with a heavy heart to find out the news that the UConn play Food For the Gods has been completely cancelled without proper documentation, a single show with full audience attendance, or even proper notice to audience members that the show has been cancelled (as of 12/5/21 at 9:30pm).

What we hope to achieve with this petition:

You may ask why it is important to sign this petition, or what exactly we are achieving with this. I'm asking you to sign this to show concern for the student and audience. The Dramatic Arts Department at the University of Connecticut had concerning ways of handling the situation surrounding the final weeks of the play Food For the Gods and its complete cancellation despite being completely sold out each night. There is serious concern as to how the department has reacted to the COVID-19 testing and case that popped up in the cast and crew, and how the University expected the students to follow up after receiving news about actions that they were supposed to take. OF COURSE I am not implying that this shouldn't be handled seriously since COVID-19 is a serious disease that must be handled with care even if that means that complete cancellation was the best decision to make. Despite this, when put up against other activities and protocols in the University it seems that there was a a different standard of care taken and expected from the students and outside members working on this production.

This is completely unacceptable for many reasons that include but are not limited to;

• Unnotified audience of cancellation, and still no refunding process taking place
• All cast and crew voluntarily sought out testing, some even spending their own money to buy COVID-19 test, since you have to show symptoms to be tested by the Student Health and Wellness Center, and only 1 person has had a confirmed positive result and had been self isolating for 2 days already after the news was shared.
• All cast and crew were still expected to continue classes the next day and for the rest of the week despite the potential spread to non-affiliated members of the show.