Little Lake & friends say: ‘We’ll Be Back’
COVID-19 may have KO’d productions for Little Lake Theatre’s 2020-21 season, but the 71-year-old company is not throwing away its shot — “Hamilton” reference intended.
In the spirit of “we’re all in this together,” Little Lake has created a spoof of a spoof — the “Hamilton” satirical song “You’ll Be Back” revamped as the video “We’ll Be Back,” a promise from the North Strabane company and some of its friends.
In presenting the video on Facebook, Little Lake wrote:
“The last few months haven’t been easy. Despite the closures, all the uncertainty and fear, we’re still here and are thankful to be able to come together as a community and get through this challenging time together.
“With the help of our friends at Act One Theatre School — Pittsburgh, Gemini Children’s Theater, The Old Schoolhouse Players, Point Park University, PICT Classic Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Prime Stage Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company [in D.C.], we’ve put together a little video for all of the people we miss. We’ll Be Back, friends.”
The not-so-little video was created “to be whimsical and fun and make us all feel better,” said Patty Knapp, Little
managing director.
Ms. Knapp worked at Pittsburgh Musical Theater before leaving for Washington, D.C., where she got to know the marketing director of newplay theater Woolly Mammoth. That’s how Washington, D.C., got a place in the video alongside six Western Pennsylvania theaters, plus Point Park University, with students and Kim Martin, producing director of Pittsburgh Playhouse, making an appearance.
“We reached out to a lot of people we knew, and we were so glad to get a mix of professional theater, community theater and educational theater,” said Little Lake artistic director Jena Oberg.
“We’ll Be Back” begins with company technical director Jared Pfennigwerth, singing and sweeping up at the empty theater, and ends with he and his sister Rachel, an actor for Little Lake and Act One, in “Cats” costumes.
A catalyst for the video was Carina Iannarelli, who works in marketing and design for both Little Lake and also does work for the Public Theater.
She edited the video as folks such as Alan Stanford and Catherine Kolos of PICT sent in their assigned parts — Ms. Oberg and Ms. Knapp did the adaptation — and also can be seen singing in front of the Public’s O’Reilly Theater, Downtown.
One thing has led to another in this collaboration, and Ms. Oberg and Prime Stage’s Wayne Brinda are in “the very early stages” of putting together an online group project of the Thornton Wilder classic “Our Town.”
Both theaters are online now, including Prime Stage Shares, which has featured a reading by Richard Blair, George Orwell’s son, of his father’s autobiographical essay, “Such, Such Were the Joys.”
Little Lake Theatre lost four productions and postponed three children’s shows due to COVID-19 and will not go live again until at least September.
Until it is back live onstage, the company has moved its summer camps to a virtual platform, has an upcoming online cabaret of Little Lake artists and has instituted Zoom Master Classes, starting June 13 with “British Dialect With Amy Landis,” a course apropos to “You’ll Be Back.” The satirical
“Hamilton” song belongs to King George III, sung by Tony nominee Jonathan Groff as a wickedly funny threat of war on American Colonists and a gleeful prediction of the infighting that comes with building a new nation.
Little Lake has been producing creative videos throughout the pandemic, including “The COVID-19 Tango: A Quarantine Project,” a fundraiser and cautionary pandemic take on “Cell Block Tango” from Kander & Ebb’s “Chicago.”
“Tango” performers are Ms. Iannarelli, Carley Adams, Kauleen Cloutier, Sadie Crow, Ashley Harmon, Mairead Roddy and Eric Matthews.
Changes include “snack time, Costco, Netflix,” in place of “uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz” in the chorus.
If you like that one, Little Lake is hoping you’ll be back for more.