With theaters closed because of the pandemic, actor and writer William Joshua Gelb was desperate to find a place where he could perform again. He did not have to look far. 

"I've been extraordinarily lucky because I actually have a white box performance space that I can make digital theater out of,” Gelb explained when I visited his small apartment to see a rehearsal. “But, Stephanie, full disclosure: it is the closet of my East Village apartment.”

What You Need To Know

  • When theaters closed because of the pandemic, Joshua William Gelb was desperate for a place to perform, and when he cleaned out his closet in late March he found one

  • Gelb emptied his closet, painted it white, and called friend and choreographer Katie Rose McLaughlin to collaborate remotely

  • Together, they created Theater in Quarantine, producing new works every few weeks, live-streaming them and then posting them on YouTube
  • The choreography and stage direction is all done over Zoom calls, with Gelb performing inside his closet and getting a bigger audience than he ever did before

While cleaning out his closet in March, the artist realized the space had the perfect dimensions to do digital theater with his iPhone. He painted it white and called friend and choreographer Katie Rose McLaughlin.

"So we started playing with no intention of making a piece, but it quickly turned into some thing that felt incredibly now in responding to the quarantine times," said McLaughlin.

With just a few lights, a projection program, an iPhone and later a camera, Theater in Quarantine was born.  

Gelb and McLaughlin have been working together remotely and with collaborators ever since creating digital performance pieces. They livestream their works, then post the videos to YouTube.

Of course, a theater in an apartment needs a backstage area and here it's the sofa next to the closet covered in costumes and props. 

"This is a gas mask,” said Gelb, still in the closet. :It's an old Russian Cold War gas mask. It made me think about all the masks that we are wearing right now and of course this closet makes me think of all the boxes we're stuck in right now, whether that's our apartments or the zoom boxes. Our work is about what it means to be confined, what it means to be trapped, and also lonely.”

Gelb's theater in the closet is an example of how some artists sheltering at home have invented new and surprising ways to express their creativity. It’s also a hit. 

When Gelb presented off-off Broadway, maybe 50 people could attend. But hundreds are tuning in for these live shows, and thousands more watch once they’re posted. 

Fans are incredulous. 

"There are no tricks here. This is actually my closet. It used to have a rod that went across here,” Gelb said, pointing just over his head. “It's four feet wide, eight feet tall and literally two feet deep. I never thought that giving myself more limitations would allow me to be more creative and flexible than I've ever been before.”

And able to share with more people than ever.