‘Live! From the Basement …’

She is following the cues of many food-world celebrities now regularly cooking at home for Instagram, including Padma Lakshmi, Massimo Bottura and the “Queer Eye” food and wine expert Antoni Porowski.

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“A lot of us are feeling powerless right now,” said Mr. Porowski, who is raising money for the hunger relief organization Feeding America via his “Quar Eye: Cooking Lessons in Quarantine” videos, which repurpose simple staples and emphasize easy swaps if grocery store shelves are sparse.

Mr. Porowski is cooking from a rented apartment in Austin, Texas, where he found himself marooned when “Queer Eye” production was put on hold. “It’s about making do with what you have,” he said.

For Daniella Cheslow, a reporter for WAMU, the NPR news station in Washington, D.C., working from home requires a battle with acoustics. At WAMU’s offices, Ms. Cheslow has a specialized recording booth with a soundboard and a monitor.

She now makes do with a home pillow fort: 14 carefully stacked cushions and pillows, a tablecloth and a blanket draped over a chair. Her recorder and microphone go inside the fort to get broadcast-quality audio.

“Radio reporters are used to making things happen on the fly,” she said.

And with Broadway dark, performers who have been sidelined by coronavirus closings are making music at home and urgently raising money for The Actors Fund, the charitable organization that is a lifeline to many in the entertainment industry.

Rosie O’Donnell teamed up with the actor and producer Erich Bergen — who played Blake Moran on “Madame Secretary” — recently for a live, one-hour comeback show, also in support of the Actors Fund. From her garage art studio, she hosted guest appearances with megastars including Harvey Fierstein, Idina Menzel and Patti LuPone, all singing and chatting from their own living rooms, kitchens and basements.

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