He added, “Before you go to Broadway theaters, people are going to say, ‘When can I go back to work? When can I go back to school? When are the other essential services going to open?’ Before they go to a play, there’s going to be a lot of other questions that they’re going to ask, and that’s going to be a function of numbers.”

The pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of people around the world and has battered the global economy is also wreaking havoc with the theater industry. Broadway is not only an important center for the art form, but is also big business: The industry drew 14.8 million patrons last season and grossed $1.8 billion.

The entire industry — like so many others — is on pause, at the cost of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars.

Spring and summer programming has already been canceled in other sectors of the performing arts world — all five Edinburgh festivals, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Jacob’s Pillow dance festival, and New York nonprofits including Lincoln Center Theater and the Roundabout Theater Company. In Britain, London’s West End theaters have canceled all performances through May 31, and in Canada, Toronto’s Mirvish Theaters have closed until June 30 “at the very earliest.”

Broadway has been loath to officially announce a far-off reopening date for several reasons: ticket sellers are reluctant to refund more tickets than they need to, sooner than they need to; each closing extension requires another consideration of whether and how to compensate or provide health benefits for unemployed workers at a time when there is no box office revenue; and getting ahead of government mandates might endanger insurance coverage. (Theater producers and 14 labor unions are now negotiating a possible extension of health benefits for workers affected by the ongoing suspension of performances.)