COVID or not, youth theatre show goes on
When COVID made live show impossible, group shifted to an online production
After more than 25 years of putting on youth theatre productions, Robert Ursan was not about to let a pandemic keep him from giving youth the opportunity to connect with their theatre family.
He just had to get creative on how he was going to do that while following public health guidelines.
As the artistic director of Do It With Class Young People's Theatre in Regina, Ursan had 40 youths, ages eight to 18, all hoping for some kind of theatre season despite COVID-19. He decided to do something the theatre company had never done before — a virtual pre-recorded show.
“For many of the young people who are in this company, this is a place of refuge. It's a place where they're surrounded by people who love (them) and love the same things they do,” Ursan said in a recent interview.
“It's just a big family and the idea that some of these kids wouldn't be able to see one another just didn't seem fair or right.”
He set to work planning and writing a script for a Christmas production that could be pre-recorded and rehearsed in smaller groups. The hour-long production, titled Tis the (Flu) Season, features a series of skits, jokes and songs.
By October the youth were beginning to learn their lines and songs.
At first, the youth could meet in small groups to practise their pieces, but as guidelines tightened, all rehearsals moved to Zoom.
“We have followed every possible guideline, and those goalposts have been shifting continually for the entire fall and it's been a nightmare,” Ursan said.
Grade 12 student Elizabeth Booker has been a member of Do It With Class for eight years. This year was unlike any performance she had ever done before and she welcomed the challenge.
We have followed every possible guideline, and those goalposts have been shifting continually.
Rehearsals done over Zoom made singing together difficult at times and she had to adapt to performing for a camera instead of a live audience while also finding ways to film some of her own pieces at home. Over time, however, even those oddities started to feel more normal, she said.
The final days leading up to the performance have also been unusually empty, now that all the recordings have been sent to Ursan to edit together.
“The whole lead-up to the show has been a lot different because normally we'd have a whole week of prepping in the theatre and getting ready and frantically rehearsing and memorizing things and songs, and now everything's been done so far in advance,” Booker said.
Ursan said all of the youth have been remarkably flexible and patient with the process, taking shifting guidelines in stride.
“They really threw their heart and soul behind getting these recordings done at home and having their families help,” he said. “It's been a truly awfully wonderful experience.”
Just like everyone else, Booker will be watching the finished production for the first time when the video goes live online.
Her immediate family is already planning a special evening of watching the show together for the first time.
“We're going to all gather in our living room, make some popcorn or something. It's going to be great,” Booker said.
Tis the (Flu) Season will premier on Do It With Class's Youtube channel on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The video will remain on the company's channel afterward.