Jodie Comer halts matinee of Broadway’s ‘Prima Facie’ due to difficulty breathing in NYC

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Actor Jodie Comer stopped Wednesday’s matinee of the Broadway play “Prima Facie,” in which she stars, when she had difficulty breathing due to the current severe weather conditions and poor air quality in New York City.

“Today’s matinee of Prima Facie was halted approximately 10 minutes into the performance after Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing due to the poor air quality in New York City because of smoke from the Canadian wildfires,” Jim Byk, a representative for “Prima Facie,” told CNN in a statement on Wednesday.

Byk added that Comer’s understudy Dani Arlington took her place on stage and that the matinee started again from the top.

CNN has reached out to Comer’s representatives for comment.

More than 55 million people across the Northeast, Midwest and mid-Atlantic in the US are under air quality alerts as wildfire smoke originating from Canada shrouds major US cities.

CNN reported on Wednesday that a total of 414 fires are still active in Canada, 239 of which are deemed out of control, according to Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair.

Harmful smoke continued to waft south into New York City on Wednesday, causing FAA-mandated ground stops at LaGuardia Airport and school districts throughout the state canceling outdoor activities and events.

Comer is best known for playing a cold-blooded assassin in the award-winning TV series “Killing Eve.” She was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in “Prima Facie,” which garnered four nominations this year. The Tonys are set to take place in New York City on Sunday.

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CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey, Derek Van Dam and Rachel Ramirez contributed to this report.