One month after Broadway shut down, I decided to take a walk.

Theater is my beat. Times Square is my territory. And now it’s transformed.

The first thing I noticed, after weeks away, was absence. Gone are the buskers promoting shows, the panhandling costumed characters, the Naked Cowboy and the fake monks and the school groups and the selfie sticks. Gone are the actors and the stagehands and the ushers and the fans.

Then I saw presence. The shows are still there — or at least their shells are. The district is a sort of theatrical petrified forest, fossilized on March 12.

“Now in Performances,” declares a sign at the Longacre Theater, promoting “Diana,” a musical about the British princess, which is decidedly not in performances. “Previews Begin March 13,” promises a sign on the Hudson, touting a revival of “Plaza Suite,” starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, that did not begin previews on that date or any other.