Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 40

ARTS & CULTURE
n the afternoon of
March 11, a tech crew at
Folsom Lake College’s
Harris Center for the
Arts loaded in the set
and costumes for the
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players’
production of “The Mikado.” It was
business as usual for the active theater
space. Around 10:30 p.m., a full house at
the 850-seat Stage One theater gave the
traveling actors a standing ovation.
About 30 minutes later, Dave Pier, the
center’s executive director, read news reports
that California Gov. Gavin
Newsom was announcing state
guidelines strongly recommending
the cancellation or postponement
of all public gatherings of
more than 250 people through
the end of March in response to
the coronavirus, which had been
declared a pandemic earlier
that day.
“We immediately were faced
with needing to alert ticket
buyers, staff and the touring
company about the need to
cancel the matinee and evening
performances of ‘The Mikado’
planned for that day, as well as
30 other events scheduled for
the balance of March,” Pier says.
“It happened that quickly.”
Most arts groups in the
Capital Region are nonprofits operating
on thin margins, and many are dependent
on ticket sales to stay in business.
Last year had been a strong year for the
performing arts in the region, and 2020
was building on that success, which has
led to hope from some local arts leaders
that this progress will continue despite
the unprecedented shutdown.
The Mondavi Center at UC Davis
opened its 2019-20 season with a soldout
performance by John Prine (who
died April 7 of complications from
COVID-19). In the previous season,
Mondavi presented 88 performances
and sold more than 55,000 tickets,
according to the organization. This
season, the center was projecting more
than 63,000 tickets sold for 98 performances.
“The season was going very
well, both artistically and in terms of
attendance. It was, as is often the case
with us, building momentum in the
spring,” says Don Roth, the Mondavi
Center’s executive director.
How people will respond once it’s
deemed safe to congregate again is an
open question. Roth is convinced of his
audience’s loyalty and believes people
will want to gather again as soon as it is
safe to, but he concedes he is rethinking
the 10 or so Major League Baseball
games he was planning to attend this
“You can’t pick up the phone
and call somebody and say,
‘OK, when is it going to be safe
for 2,000 people to collect in
one building?’ There is no
answer to that. Even today,
there is no answer to that.”
RICHARD LEWIS
CEO, BROADWAY AT MUSIC CIRCUS
summer. Still, he’s hopeful patrons will
buy tickets to the shows for the 2020-21
season. “I think that the other side of this
is that people will be hungry for those
live experiences,” Roth says. His many
years as a presenter have shown him
tickets are purchased because of previous
positive experiences, but does the
pandemic wipe those memories away?
Curtains closed abruptly
The abrupt end to live performing arts
across the region was startling and
shocking; nothing and no one involved
in gathering large numbers of people
together had experienced it or was
spared. And, by March 13, there was a
steady wave of announcements of cancellations
and postponements.
Capital Stage, the edgy professional
theater in Midtown Sacramento,
canceled its production of the topical
college-admission drama “Admissions.”
The company had been rehearsing
for six weeks and just performed its
first preview; the play was scheduled
to open the following week. B Street
Theatre canceled its production of the
play “Byhalia, Mississippi,” which had
opened the previous week at The Sofia
in Sacramento. Broadway Sacramento
canceled the national touring production
of “Bandstand,” scheduled for
April 7-12 at Memorial Auditorium,
and moved its major
annual fundraising event, the
Broadway Sacramento Gala,
from April 4 to Sept. 26.
Blues guitarists Elvin Bishop
and Tommy Castro were
scheduled at the Crest Theatre
in Sacramento on March 13.
Bishop canceled, but Castro
played, though SBL Entertainment
capped the audience
at 250. The Mondavi Center
canceled Les Ballets Trockadero
scheduled for that night
and all events through March
21. Actors and technical staff
of “Hamlet” at Sacramento
Theatre Company met after
that night’s performance and
informed Executive Producing
Director Michael Laun they didn’t feel
comfortable going through with the
weekend’s performances. On March
18, the Mondavi Center canceled its
remaining 2019-20 season.
Then, on April 2, Broadway At
Music Circus announced the delay
of the 2020 summer season until the
summer of 2021, the first postponement
in the organization’s 70 years.
CEO Richard Lewis and chief operating
officer Scott Klier knew what they had
to do. “What if, God forbid, one of your
costume-shop employees came down
with the virus, would you then have to
quarantine your entire costume department?”
Klier says. “What would be
the consequence to your operation? It’s
both scary and sobering, absolutely.”
40 comstocksmag.com | June 2020