CLO returns to its roots in trying times for the arts
Mark Fleischer never slowed down.
As executive producer for Pittsburgh CLO, he was forced to make a cascade of changes and cancellations due to the pandemic. Now that he’s taking over for longtime CLO leader Van Kaplan at the end of the fiscal year, he’s looking ahead, but not too far.
The CLO is preparing for its largest productions since 2019, the Summer Under the Stars shows at Heinz Field. In partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers, “The Wizard of Oz” comes to the North Shore stadium July 8-10 and the Pittsburgh CLO’s 75th Anniversary show, “A Broadway Musical Celebration” is set for July 21-24.
But Fleischer can’t forget this difficult year.
“Our summer will be after 252 canceled performances,” he said.
“I think we’re finding our way to asking the question, ‘What will we be in the new normal?’ ‘What will stay? What will change?’
“For some events, it’s a real, ‘If not now, when?’ moment. I think it’s going to be a long time. I’m hearing three years until full recovery for a lot of us with audiences.”
Fleischer said the CLO evaluated who was their most vulnerable constituency during the pandemic and pinpointed the students of the CLO Academy. In four days, the organization managed to transfer 200 performing arts classes to online platforms. But like many local arts organizations, the CLO had to reduce staff. Theater technicians, actors, musicians and others lost work.
Some aspects of the pandemic actually brought positive developments. Thanks to video conferencing, academy students were privy to master classes from Tony winner Beth Leavel, film and stage
director/choreographer Rob Marshall and Broadway star Patrick Page, who most recently played Hades in “Hadestown.” Fleischer also started interviewing theater makers for “Close Ups,” a new live online talk show.
But much of the pandemic has been uncharted territory. In July, the two executives split their duties with Kaplan taking on fundraising efforts and Fleischer keeping day-today operations humming. Following this transition year, Kaplan will stay on in a consultant role.
Despite the cancellation of Benedum shows two years in a row, the projects kept coming. CLO artists gave singing telegrams called theatergrams and put on a COVID-safe production of “A Christmas Carol.” There was also a new online store, a commissioned music and choreography series called “Songs for a New Year” and community-led projects like the Google Doc Musical.
“I’ve never worked so hard not to produce theater,” Fleischer said. “Every day was a new scenario, a new ‘what if,’ a new rule came out, suddenly learning about testing and things like that. How to keep people safe and manage someone in the distance, how to work at home, [and] at the same time, fulfill our mission. We didn’t really stop.”
Now the CLO returns to its origins with its 75th anniversary season. It was founded in 1946 as a civic engagement project after World War II and modeled after the Muny in St. Louis, which performs in a massive outdoor amphitheater. The venue? Pitt Stadium.
“We’ve looked back on our roots, and it’s a full circle moment,” Fleischer said. “We weren’t going to not celebrate our 75th. Hopefully in 2022, we’ll have a homecoming season at the Benedum.”
The pandemic brought together leaders of theater companies across Pittsburgh, which led to stronger bonds between organizations as they discussed over Zoom how to handle the pandemic. He noted the various ways arts organizations met audience needs, either in person like Pittsburgh Opera’s scaled- down operas and Quantum Theatre’s musical “The Current War” in Westinghouse Park, or online like Pittsburgh Public’s “Classics N’at” commission series.
Fleischer also stressed other benefits arts organizations provide to the community as employers, buyers and educators.
The CLO continued its Creative Vision program, which brings theater professionals and teaching artists into Allegheny County schools to aid in developing literacy and communication skills for elementary and middle school students. Its touring theatrical show, “Gallery of Heroes,” teaches students lessons about historical figures and the Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater went online this year.
“People have found ways, whether it’s streaming or small concerts. Things have gone smaller, but in some ways, is that bad? We’re meeting people on a level we hadn’t been before,” Fleischer said.
“As long as the arts organizations stay true to their mission, stay true to their community, and hire artists that tell interesting stories and make meaningful experiences, we’ll be out there.”