As D.C. arts organizations temporarily shut down performances and events last month amid the local spread of the coronavirus, the artistic director of the local opera and theater company IN Series, Timothy Nelson, began to question whether their shows would go on anytime soon.

“In my gut, I just couldn’t see the arts ecosystem returning to live performance after this is settled,” he says. Nelson also didn’t want to make commitments to artists knowing that IN Series might not be able to honor them. So, he and his team got working on an alternative.

IN Series has announced its first entirely virtual season, slated to begin in September. Rather than the six staged shows it would typically produce, the company’s 2020-2021 season will feature at least 12 works, ranging from feature-length films to opera shorts and audio broadcasts modeled after radio dramas.

The programming won’t look or feel like watching traditional opera on the small screen, but it’s all fairly flexible beyond that, according to Nelson. He declined to name any of the titles that will be included in the upcoming season because they are still working on getting the rights to some works, which are different for screen than stage.

“The idea is that the whole season is an exploration,” Nelson says. “I’m very open about the fact that we don’t know what we’re doing.”

The organization is also planning virtual reality experiences, interactive opera performances, and collaborations with filmmakers, animators, and other artists and businesses. The programming will be available via a virtual opera house, accessible through a browser and via a mobile app that IN Series is currently developing. (they’re calling it an “opera house without walls” and it is set to be unveiled in July.)

The majority of the programming will be free, or viewers can pay for a monthly subscription that will give them early and prolonged access, plus bonus content like behind-the-scenes footage and online artist receptions. Nelson says they have not settled on a dollar amount, but they are encouraging patrons to match their previous subscriptions. Last year, general subscriptions cost $249 for six shows, and $229 for seniors.

While IN Series appears to be the first local company to move its 2020-2021 season entirely online, other area arts organizations have also pivoted their long-term schedules.

Round House Theatre announced this week that Cost of Living, a play by Martyna Majok that was originally set to premiere in April, will be added to the 2020-2021 roster and open in October instead. The company also said it plans to make adjust seating so audience members can maintain social distancing. In the meantime, they are presenting Round House at Your House, a slate of digital programming that includes Homebound, a web series about life under the stay-at-home order for D.C.’s theater community.

Folger Theatre has also changed dates for two of its three 2020-2021 shows. It announced that the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the National Building Museum’s summer exhibit has been postponed until July 2021, and the premiere of Aaron Posner and Teller’s The Tempest, a collaboration with Round House, was moved from November to April 2021. Folger, too, is offering virtual programming.

And the Washington Ballet announced today that it will move its planned June production of Swan Lake to the end of its 2020-2021 season next May. The company hinted at further changes, writing in a statement that “These unparalleled circumstances have necessitated a revision to our originally planned 2020/21 Season. We are working to optimize the upcoming season to create the safest and most joyful collection and schedule of performances. We will share these changes with you soon.”

IN Series’ announcement, however, highlights how drastically COVID-19 could continue to impact the performing arts well beyond the potential potential (limited) reopening dates local governments are currently discussing.

Nelson says companies like IN Series can make these kinds of adjustments with relative ease, as their overhead is much smaller than large organizations like the Kennedy Center. IN Series has three full-time and two part-time employees, all of whom have been directly involved in planning the virtual season.

Still, Nelson says they have lost potential revenue, and the change of plans means that the organization must postpone the full roll out of its Cardwell-Dawson Resident Artist Program, which provides young singers of color leading roles in IN Series shows for the entire season, voting seats on the organization’s board of directors, and an opportunity to advise staff on operations.

The four singers IN Series previously selected will still star in the virtual shows, but the other aspects of the program have been put on hold until next year, Nelson says, when they hopefully have the resources to support it fully.

Nelson expects IN Series will retain some elements of its digital programming even after it’s able to welcome audiences back to its shows. For now, he hopes the change in format attracts new fans of opera, which he says has long been a struggle for the form.

“It’s hard to get people even to come in the door and sit in a seat to watch “opera,” in quotes, because they have this preconception,” he says. “And I think this gives us an opportunity to radically shift what people think of when they hear the word opera.”