The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Curtain 440 ventures into coronavirus performances
Angela Miloro-Hansen is used to improvisation, and not just because she has been acting and directing for years.
Angela Miloro-Hansen is used to improvisation, and not just because she has been acting and directing for years.
The co-creator of Curtain 440 Productions got off to a quick start, performing multiple youth productions in several Northeast Ohio locations in 2019 and early 2020. But then the pandemic and Governor Mike DeWine’s closure and stayat home orders in March changed everything.
“Since March the group has had to cancel the following shows: “Alice in Wonderland,” “Antigone Now,” “Moana Jr.,” “Radium Girls,” “Mamma Mia,” “Around the World in 80 Days,” “Bright Star,” and “Little Women.”
“This is a loss of approximately $57,000 in revenue (before show expenses, which amount to roughly one-fourth of that number, give or take),” the company stated in a Facebook post. “These shows would have employed college students who are pursuing the arts, adults that either work in the field or rely on these jobs as supplemental income, professionals in the field, high school students, and volunteers who simply love theater.”
The economic impact, not to mention the psychological and emotional ones, on a young company have been significant. As a result, Miloro-Hansen was determined as re-openings were announced in May to take advantage of that window of opportunity to try and stage something in the supposedly safer summer months.
Those productions were “The Never-ending Story” on July 20-21 and “Tinker Bell” on July 31 and Aug. 1. Both performed outdoors at Celebration Lutheran Church in Chardon to limited audiences.
“So many people told me when I was looking into doing an outdoor production this summer that “someone has to be first one to do it,’” Miloro-Hansen said. “So I did it.”
That the productions occurred at all was a success, but financially it was difficult, as she laid out to her Facebook group recently. The post served to show the difficulties arts organizations face in this environment.
“In our socially-distanced outdoor version of ‘The Neverending Story,’ we are limited the audience to 50,” she wrote. “That means the most we can possibly make off the show is $1000.”
However, she noted that once production costs are factored in, the total profit would be $340, and that’s only if they sold out every show.
The margin for profit, therefore, is slim. But Miloro-Hansen believes it was worth the effort in ways that cannot be quantified. She noted that during the pandemic people have turned toward entertainment outlets like TV, music and books as well as creative outlets like crafts.
“The act of creating has been one of the main things keeping everyone sane, giving them a feeling of consistency, normalcy, and purpose,” she said. “We owe all of that to artists. And yet, artists and theater have been severely underrepresented in the media lately.”
Miloro-Hansen said the spotlight has been put on the return of professional sports leagues while public theaters have been ignored.
Curtain 440 was one week away from opening “Alice in Wonderland” when the closures hit, and were set to do productions of “Antigone Now” and “The Neverending Story” to finish out the year.
“I remember so well our last, very strange rehearsal on March 11,” Miloro-Hansen recalled. “My phone kept alerting me of all the things that were closing, and we heard for the first time the term ‘mass gathering ban.’
“I sat down with the cast and had a very real talk with them about the likelihood that the show was going to be postponed and that I had no clue when the next time we would be allowed to have a rehearsal was,” she continued. “At that point, we truly thought it was going to be a two- to three-week thing, and we would pick up where we left off then. Well, we all know how that turned out.”
In addition to the financial costs, Miloro-Hansen says the emotional toll on the arts community has been tough.
“We all said very strange goodbyes to each other,” she said. “This group had been together daily since August, and now didn’t know when we would see each other again. Some of the cast were seniors and I don’t know if I’ll get to see them before they leave for college.
“I’ve never not been able to say goodbye to my graduating students, and this is heartbreaking.
Miloro-Hansen worked quickly to launch online classes in acting, writing, and dancing, and even did an entirely online production of “10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine” with 27 actors all recording their own segments separately.
“It was then I learned my strength is in live theater, not video editing,” Miloro-Hansen joked.
That led to the summer performances, which were a massive challenge.
“Oh, that was so much more work than any giant production we’ve ever done,” Miloro-Hansen said.
She noted they had to find plays that didn’t have singing or more than 10 characters. And then they had to perfrom with social distancing taking place.
Despite the challenges, Miloro-Hansen has no regrets.
“We were starved for working and creating together,” she said. “It was wonderful to spend a very short time very far apart from each other outside. But this is not sustainable.
“The amount a show like that can bring in is less than one-fourth of what a normal, non-pandemic production would. “
Miloro-Hansen said she believes it is absolutely mandatory that unemployment assistance be extended to the theatrical community as there is no timeline for reopening, and they are devastated both emotionally and financially.
So she has turned her energies to activism. Aug. 5 was a day of activism hash-tagged “Save Our Stages” intended to rally support for the Save Our Stages Act and encourage U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman to support legislation that would provide $10 billion to provide relief for live performing venues.
“Attention must be paid to the arts,” Miloro-Hansen said. “They are crucial to the mental well-being of every person. And as much as our patrons may miss the theatre, please know that we miss you just as much. We want to work. We just don’t know how right now.
“They say we’re in this together, but all too often it feels like the theater community is not a part of that.”