Applause for theater supporters

There were many things I couldn’t do because of the COVID pandemic; spending quality, indoor time with family and friends was scarce. Luckily, my wife and I — and our immediate family — have stayed healthy throughout. For me, though, the revival of live performances at Curtain Call, Stamford’s longest-running and only, yearround producing theater, is one thing I am very thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Theater is my life ... not just a career or job ... so getting back to work with dozens of creative artists to create the programming our community expects, was a blessing. A normal year for us means some kind of activity at our Sterling Farms Theatre campus 340-plus days a year, so I really missed my theater family that includes performers, crew, musicians and patrons — but now we’re back.

This revival would not have been possible without the incredible generosity of our community. Hundreds of individuals, businesses, foundations and more stepped up to help. New program support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts was made possible by our state legislators; federal leaders Richard Blumenthal, Jim Himes and Chris Murphy helped create unprecedented funding support for theaters across the country. Artistic luminaries Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Amanda Green, industry leaders such as Drew Cohen (MTI) and theater colleagues across the country — especially members of the American Association of Community Theatre — supported efforts to get our theater lights burning again.

On behalf of everyone at Curtain Call, since it’s Thanksgiving, I give thanks to everyone who supports live theater in our community, and around the world.

Lou Ursone is executive director of Curtain Call in Stamford.