Mentor Theatre returns with live performances

Family, friends only likely audience for production

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Perhaps Mentor Theatre is wondering about a parallel question to that old bromide.

If a play performs live and no one is there to see it, does it make any money?

Welcome to 2021. Seems a lot like 2020.

The novel coronavirus pandemic that has largely kept theaters from Broadway to the local community playhouse shuttered continues to challenge local groups.

While athletics seems to be happening under strict guidelines and protocols, theater programs find it tougher to open.

As has been explained numerous times in this space since the pandemic largely ended live theater in March, it is financially untenable to pay the upfront licensing costs, fees and expenses associated with staging a traditional play or musical if the group knows full well it can not recoup those costs with large-enough audiences thanks to local health department guidelines.

The fact that safety guidelines need to be in place for the safety of all is not the question. The issue is how live theater — which depends on large gatherings to function — can possibly exist in this environment. So far, it largely appears it can’t.

Locally, community group Curtain 440 under director/founder Angela

Miloro-Hansen tried to stage some socially distanced live performances this summer. As has been discussed, the performances occurred, but the audience size makes it hard to declare them a success.

My own socially distanced production of “Chicago: High School Edition” that finally performed in October under significantly different production realities at least completed our project and helped us recoup our own costs. But to say it finished as originally intended or earned as much as we would have under normal circumstances would be a significant stretch.

So it is with Mentor Theatre’s production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” they had scheduled for the first weekend in November, but was delayed thanks to a quarantine of key cast members and the district’s subsequent switch to completely remote learning with a pause in all extra-curricular activities.

Now with Mentor having resumed live instruction in the hybrid model again, the district in consultation with the Lake County General Health District has gotten permission to move forward with the production as they had hoped in November when Superintendent Bill Porter said in a news release that Mentor would “postpone ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the

Night-time’ until Jan. 2123, which were the dates scheduled for the winter play.”

“We are acting out of an abundance of caution for the well being of the students and their families,” director John Greene said. “We knew heading into this year that postponing the show was a distinct possibility and we had already cancelled our winter show to serve as a backup plan and are ready to move the show into that slot.”

The only unfortunate reality now, however, is that audience members who had bought tickets in November may be out of luck this time around. The 10-person cast and 50-person crew has been granted two tickets per student, and that is it.

So while the production about a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor’s dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world looked to be an unusual and interesting offering on this year’s high school theatre slate, it will likely be performed for friends and family only.

Such is the pandemic in 2021. Again, sounds a lot like 2020. But with vaccine distribution underway, hope springs eternal that musical season will see a better fate than it did last year.