Dell’Arte cancels 2021 holiday show, tour

Dell’Arte International has announced it will not be touring and performing its annual holiday show this year due to safety concerns and the continuing impacts brought about by the global pandemic.

The annual “Holiday Show and Tour” has been a 40-year tradition for Dell’Arte and the many families and communities it serves across the North Coast. With a long-standing partnership with Food for People making the tour a major annual food drive event every year, Dell’Arte has been able to offer the show for free to rural audiences as far south as Point Arena and as far north as Cave Junction, Oregon, every year because of the sustained help of local foundations, sponsors, businesses and the California Arts Council.

“Like last year’s live broadcast of ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ made possible only because of funding and support from grants and local business sponsors, we considered and pursued many alternatives to replace this year’s tour,” said Managing Director Alyssa Hughlett.

This year, the organization decided to turn its efforts toward providing safe and ground-breaking theater training to its new class of Professional Training Program students and a new performance season has been set to launch in February with a studentdevised commedia performance directed by adjunct faculty Jon Kellam.

“So many of us in the theater, dance and live arts community are still reeling and adapting to the exhausting conditions the pandemic is placing on our venues, people, and practices,” Hughlett said, “not to mention that schools, parents and families are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress — these factors make planning a safe and family-friendly live performance very difficult.”

Dell’Arte is planning to bring the “Holiday Show and Tour” back to Humboldt County for the 2022 holiday season, For more information, visit Dellarte. com.