Midmorning With Aundrea - June 30, 2020 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 2) Summer camps look vastly different this year as many of them have adopted face mask requirements and social distancing.

We'll take a look at how these camps have embraced the change.

And most theaters in America may be closed, but one playhouse in Massachusetts is determined to stay open by rearranging theater seats to observe social distancing.

And Mo Rocca interviews colorful Food Network host Guy Fieri.

I'm saying letmo more than 14 million children, adolescents, and adults attend summer camp each year.

But this year, many camps are closed.

For camps that ádoá open, the c-d-c recommends they should enforce the use of face masks, ácloseá shared spaces like dining halls and keep campers in the same small groups every day.

Meg oliver visited one camp that will have a áquiet summer.á summer at ymca camp mason in new jersey usually looks something like this& ...there's no such thing as social distancing, everything is about being together& until now&for the first time in 120 years, camp mason will not open this summer.

They decided to cancel before the state mandated it.

Keith vanderzee is the camp's c-e-o.

Have you ever cancelled camp before?

The camp has been through world wars, floods, other pandemics, but this is unfortunately the first year we've had to cancel.

There are around 84-hundred overnight camps in the u-s, and each year, the ymca runs more than 300 of them.

The american camp association and the ymca recently released an 82- page guideline for camps, which includes how to decide if you should open, how to properly clean and disinfect and how to handle a suspected coronavirus case among campers or staff.

Why did you make the decision to cancel?

Most of our campers come from the five boroughs of new york, the larger towns and cities of new jersey, and internationally.

// you know, not only could it have posed health risks to our campers and their families and our shared communities, but the changes that we would have had to enact to operate camp--social distancing, reduced number of campers, no group games--it would have made the camp experience unrecognizable.

Unrecognizable, for campers, like 15-year-old angelina mack.

What does this camp mean to you?

Camp is oh my gosh.

It means everything.

It's what i look forward to every single year.

Angelina lives just outside philadelphia.

This would have been her seventh summer at camp.

Just the air quality out here is so much better.

And then it's just completely green.

So much space to go.

You can just go free.

What do you think about summer with camp cancel?

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Big thumbs down.

Exactly.

For some parents, like mother of four meg st.

Esprit, camp isn't just about getting kids outdoors, it's also practical.

She and her husband work full-time, and rely on summer camps for some of their childcare.

I just i don't know how it's going to work.

I really don't.

St.

Esprit says virtual camps, which are popping up across the country, are not much help.

My six year old twins, they -- we've done a couple of different test runs of some different virtual classes.

Their attention span is just not quite there yet.

I've been joking around my house, "we're gonna hav a 1970s summer where you're gonna get bored and you're gonna figure out how to fill the time."

Cbs new contributor and psychologist lisa damour advises parents think about the day in parts, which include assigned activities and having kids create their own agenda.

So part of the day, you're going to be helping out.

Helping out around the house // part of the day, i want you to have fun.

You can watch tv.

You can read a book.

// and part of the day, you're going to get bored.

There will be no technology available to you in that time, and you're gonna figure out what to do with that time.

For kids like angelina figuring out what to do now is their latest disappointment.

What does your summer look like now that you won't be able to come up here to camp mason?

Well that was supposed to be a month of my summer.

// but now it pretty much just looks like staying at home with my family.

No one ever expected not to have summer camp this year, but having taught kids grit, having taught kids resiliency over the years, you know, they're gonna overcome this.

They're gonna grow and they're gonna continue to thrive.

When we come back, one theater finds a way for the show to go on.

Mid morning will be right back.

As as you know, the pandemic has darkened most theaters across the country.

But rita braver found one... where the show will go on... 1 for the barrington stage company in western massachusetts& nat sound, julianne boyd: these 2 seats are available, they're in red putting on one of the few plays nat sound boyd: i like the amount of room here.

Inside an american theater this summer& nat sound boyd: definitely more than 6 feet between this row and this row requires some big changes: julianne boyd: we've started with 52o seats and we'll be takng out every other row so that the seats that will be for sale will are 163 seats.

2 artistic director julianne boyd says everything will be different& nat sound boyd: so this is the line right here ááá2a from a stage "edge" that kee actors farther away from the audience&to new rules for patrons: sot julie: 13:25:24 page6 we're going to take their temperature// p.

7 14:16:02 they will have to sanitize their hands and then they can enter.

P.

7 15:22:15 rita are people gonna be wearing masks in the theater?

Julianne boyd absolutely//and they have to keep them on the whole time.

Vo videos from other plays, cut to poster from their 3 for more than a quarter of a century, this theater has staged full blown, multi-actor plays, but to avoid having actors and crew too close to each other&the new season will open with a one man show& page 5 julie: it's one actor, minimal set, one costume.

I would need no backstage crew.

Nat sound boyd: 13 24 50 this isn't something that we can continue doing for a long time.

4 boyd says she doesn't expect to make a profit from the play- rita braver do you thik that people are gonna be able to have fun even though we're in the midst of this pandemic?

Julianne boyd absolutely.

They want to have fun.

They're looking for fun.

They're looking for some great diversion.

Nat sound maria manuela goyanes: we'll take these seats out.

Vo various inside theater shots, cut to drawings ááá5 at woolly mammoth theater in washington, dc, artistic director maria manuela goyanes has already had her team draw up plans for cabaret- style tables&socially distanced&or even plexiglas booths&once theaters are allowed to reopen: maria manuela goyanes this is literally what every theater company is going through right now in the country.

We are making scenario, after scenario.

Vo wooly mammoth exterior&and maybe some logos of other theaters in&show playathome on their website 6- in the meantime&woolly mammoth is one of 20-plus theaters around the world trying a new idea: maria manuela goyanes pretty soon after we went into shelter in place, we talked about how to get a little bit of money into playwrights pockets&and also remind folks that plays can bring joy even if they cannot go to the theater to experience them.

So we started an initiative called play at home.

Cut to musical ááá7-which means that families like the fullers can download a script&and perform a ten minute musical: nat sound: doin' the do do shimmy vo: cut to crawford play in this play-at home, logan crawford discovers her dad's shelter-in- place hideout: logan: daddy; what are you doin?

Daddy: working.

Logan&in the bathtub?

Vo: exterior alley theater, shakespeare?

Page with actors 8 many theaters have put past&and even new productions on line.

Nat sound killing time 07 18 that train ride was longer than my last novel!

8-a actors' from houston's alley theater perform shakespeare's sonnets& written when elizabethan theaters were closed due to the plague: sot sonnett 30: i sigh the lack of many a thing i thought&and with old woe, new wail my dear time's waste.

ááá9 but theaters are yearning to put on shows.

Woolly mammoth was set to open the fall season with a strange loop&first staged by playwrights horizons off broadway in new york & nat sound, a strange loop: cuz after what me and your dad went through, to send your black booty to nyu& page 11 11:14:07 maria interview rita braver and then something amazing happened to that play?

Maria manuela goyanes: the most unbelievable news&strange loop wins the pulitzer prize.

There are not words for my happiness, and i'm still on cloud nine about it.

Mostly because i can't think of a more deserving human being than michael r.

Jackson.

Nat sound a strange loop: it's your daily self loathing.

I had some time to kill.

I thought i'd stop by to tell you just how truly worthless you are.

Nat sound: i am a disney usher& vo photo of jackson, cut to zoom interview: 10 it was a historic win for jackson&the first time a musical won the pulitzer without playing on broadway.

But, the only celebration for jackson was on zoom& michael r jackson, page 1 2:23 and then i just took a long walk&and i like, listened to luther vandross and chaka kahn, which felt like celebratory, you know music for me to listen to.

Rita braver so there was no night on the town for you michael r jackson no night on the town.

Nat sound a strange loop: a portrait of a black queer face 11 and jackson will have to wait to see the new production of the show&based on his life as a gay black man&until the summer of 2021.

He says he understands&that safety comes first: page 3, 11:50 rita braver and are you interested in writing about the pandemic?

Michael r jackson what i'm interested in are sort of the longstanding, preexisting inequities that the pandemic has exposed.

Why is that?

Where do these inequities come from and what can we do to actually address them.

12 and, so&whatever playwrights create&local and regional theaters will be ready to stage&because, maria manuela goyanes says, for audiences, cast and crew, nothing can replace the joy of theater.

Maria manuela goyanes because it really enobles us.

It enriches our lives.

That's what keeps me up at night is how to employ people in the future and make sure that we can come back stronger than ever.

Coming up next, a road warrior.

Food on the go next on mid morning.

Tv tv host and restaurateur guy fieri is well known for showing us what's cooking in out-of-the-way places around the country.

...which means he has lots to share with mo rocca: everything about guy fieri, it seems, is big.

From the way he talks & & to his love of tattoos& guy fieri: 01:50:18 // this was the last one.

I got my star on the hollywood walk of fame.

& to his success on television &.

From show intro: "i'm guy fieri, we'r rollin out, lookin for america's favorite diners, drive-ins and dives" as host of food network's diners drive-ins and dives since 2006 he's taken his cherry red camaro to joints across america & mo rocca: 00:56:22 how many places have you hit so far, roughly?

Guy fieri: 00:56:26 give or take, 1,300.

In santa fe a few years back he ran into acting legend gene hackman.

But it's the eateries themselves that get top billing here.

Mo rocca: 01:10:40 why do these places matter?

Guy fieri: 01:10:44 //a lotta these mom and pop joints are the fabric of the community.

You know, these are places the kids got jobs, these are places where you got engaged, these are places where you had your great memories, these are places that you went and got a gift certificate as a donation to your kid's soccer team.

The triple-d effect, as it's known, on these establishments is real.

In 2008 fieri dropped in at alcenia's in memphis, tennessee & betty joyce chester- tamayo is the owner & now it's tempting to make all sorts of assumptions about fieri.

Mo rocca: 01:18:12 what do people think you eat?

Guy fieri: 01:18:15 fried cheeseburger, hotdog-- corndog-- pretzels covered in cheese.

Mo rocca: 01:18:23 and that's not what you eat?

Guy fieri: 01:18:24 no, not at all.

01:19:02 // veggies are my game.

Love salad.

Love spaghetti squash.

Love-- love all the whole grains.

Big farro fan.// this isn't so surprising when you consider his upbringing: born guy ferry - he changed his last name to fieri to honor his immigrant grandfather - he was raised in the small northern california town of ferndale, by parents he describes as hippies.

Guy fieri 00:16:24 we drove a van.

And they had a hide of leather.

And they made candles.

Leather shop// "how much mor hippie can you get than that?"

As a teenager he operated his own pretzel cart.

When he was twenty-six his parents mortgaged their home to help him open his first restaurant.

In 2005 he was encouraged by friends to audition for a reality show.

Mo rocca: 01:12:46 i am told that your audition for next food network star justjust wowed people// because you were so easy and natural on camera.

Guy fieri: 01:13:12 i'll tell you what a lot of it is - you talk to people the way you wanna be talked to.

He says he didn't expect to win.

Guy fieri// 01:17:34 and you know, i'd never been to new york.

And i'm standin' with all these chefs.

I'm like, "oh, boy, thi is gonna be an adventure.

This-- here we go."

And it was.

It was a great-- it was a great adventure.

He did win and it's been quite the ride ever since.

He's been parodied on saturday night live & & actress melissa mccarthy said she based her oscar- nominated turn in bridesmaids on fieri& áábut there's also been less flattering attention, including a scathing 2012 new york times review of his now closed times square restaurant.

Negative press about fieri inspired this defense from stand-up comedian shane torres.

Shane torres: he goes around the country to small businesses and gives them free advertising on a national platform on a weekly basis// but because his hair looks like he was electrocuted while drinking mountain dew, people act like we need to saw his head off and put it on the internet.

But over the years the knocks have been drowned out by praise for fieri's big - make that huge - philanthropic endeavors.

He's raised money for intellectually disabled chidren.

He's received the make a wish foundation's highest honor.

And during the california wildfires of recent years, he served thousands of meals out of the same mobile kitchens he's using to feed hospital workers now.

But wait, there's more & mo rocca: 00:31:53 how much money have you helped raise for out-of- work restaurants workers?

Guy fieri: 00:31:59 i think we're just on the cusp of 24 million.

ááworking with the national restaurant association educational foundation, fieri co-created the restaurant employee relief fund to aid those left jobless by the pandemic.

Guy fieri 00:34:25 // and so i started sending out personal video messages to all the ceos that had any connection to the restaurant association.

Pepsi, coke, cargill-- keurig, dr. pepper, you name it.

Guy fieri: 00:34:55 // i'm standin' right here and i'm doin' it, my wife my kids are sittin' here havin' dinner and they're like, "you're reall losin' it."

Guy fieri: 00:36:00 and so anyhow-- the next morning we have a conference call.

And-- they said, "pepsi just sent u a million bucks."

I' not kiddin' ya, i had to pull over to the side of the road.

// so far forty thousand restaurant employees have been given five hundred dollar grants.

Eric ripert: 00:07:58 personality.// 00:08:05 //and a big heart.

And the last time i s-- i saw him, actually, he gave me a very warm hug.

ááeric ripert is the co-owner and chef of the world renowned le bernardin in new york.

Eric ripert// he has this incredible persona that-- that-- magnetic.

If you're surprised to hear the triple michelin star winning chef singing the praises of the star of triple-d, don't be& eric ripert: 00:12:53 analogy-- you have musicians who play jazz, classic music, pop music, hip hop-- you name it.

//fine dining probably is closer to classic music and what guy is doing is probably closer to-- pop music in a sense.

At fifty-two, this married father of two is respected as never before.

But not to fear: he's still one boisterous guy.

Mo rocca: 00:39:45 surprised yourself at how successful this has been?

Guy fieri: 00:39:56 i wanna-- i wanna be very-- mature and tell you, "no, i'v always had this in mind that it would be like this."

An then i'll tell ya, like the little kid, "i'm out of my mind.

When we come back, one boy's trip to celebrate his victory over illness is a real family affair.

Stay with us.

Mid morning will