Improv Playhouse decides the show must go on
Keep safe and keep going seems to be the philosophy of David Brian Stuart, founding executive director of Improv Playhouse, based in Libertyville. Stuart, who also goes by the title Guy in Charge, has found safe ways to allow the theater’s Training School students and teachers, as well as performers, continue to do what they love despite the pandemic.
“March 15, when everything slammed down, we had an almost instantaneous staffing on Zoom — which wasn’t quite the household name it is today — and we pivoted our youth productions and our adult classes, wrapped everything up at the Training Center, through some Zoom productions,” Stuart said.
Two months later, following staff brainstorming sessions, Improv Playhouse went hybrid, with safety protocols in place.
“We availed our staff to go to people’s homes to run everything from performing arts to science programming with their children and neighbors as long as the family signed off on our protocol,” Stuart said.
The performing arts camps were all in-person, based out of the theater’s Highland Park space at the Highland Park Community House and their Libertyville space.
“We have a lot of parents that wanted their children in person,” Stuart said. “Our campers when they were inside would wear masks, along with our staff. Whenever they were outside — which was probably 50% of the time — they didn’t have to wear masks.”
The facility was sanitized every couple of hours and there was frequent hand-washing. Social distancing was maintained as much as possible with the children.
“Through our programming, no one has gotten ill,” Stuart said. With adult programming, participants and instructors were asked if they had traveled to a “hot spot.” If they had, they were asked to take two weekends off from the programming.
Performers and audiences were protected by plexiglass shielding that was put in the staging areas of the Libertyville theater as well as in the box office.
“The virtual programming has been as robust as in-person,” Stuart said.
That includes the improv and voice-over classes for adults, as well as such youth classes as improv for kids, theatrical movements, and tap, among others, which were launched in the fall.
“We’ve drawn folks from not just the Chicago region,” Stuart said.
“It helped build up our resilience through the crisis.” Filmmaking programs for kids drew participants from Georgia and Louisiana.
Theatre for Young Audiences programming went virtual. Stuart and his staff found a way to assure a wider audience for them. “We contracted with libraries and schools to access the content for a twoto-three-week period or through the entire fall to allow their communities to access it whenever they wanted,” he said.
For 2021, Improv Playhouse is creating a piece emphasizing diversity called “Colors of Thunder,” which will be offered to schools, libraries, and anybody else who wants it.
“We’re hoping that once the vaccine is implemented more holistically in the region that we’re able to tour that show during the summer, among a couple of other shows that we are creating,” Stuart said.
The company will continue to offer the same programming in 2021 that they have been offering this year.
“We’ve found other niches rather than just isolating and everybody collecting unemployment,” Stuart said. “We’ve been productive and wanted to keep staff, as well as our student body, as active as possible.”
Stuart said that he has been “shamed during the pandemic” by some other people in the entertainment business, with “blasts on Facebook and emails.
We kind of ignored it and moved forward and said, ‘We’re going to do what we think is appropriate and safe for our communities.’ ”