Performing-arts groups are eagerly awaiting new season optimistic
In the New Season preview section presented today, we offer highlights of the coming season. Despite uncertainties, most groups seem confident that they have the resilience to adapt and give audiences what they seem increasingly hungry for: the lively arts.
For central Ohio arts groups, the coming season is one of both optimism and uncertainty.
Following a year-and-a-half of cancellations, postponements, virtual programs and limited-capacity concerts, the performing-arts groups – from music to theater, and comedy to visual arts – are hopeful that performances will go on as planned.
Touring shows are back on the road, groups that had gone virtual will again be welcoming audiences and movie theaters are popping popcorn – at least, that’s the plan.
“My hope and wish is that all the arts, but especially our ‘Nutcracker’ at Balletmet, come roaring back,” said Balletmet Artistic Director Edwaard Liang, whose company – in one of the starkest illustrations of the impact of the pandemic on the performing-arts scene – canceled “The Nutcracker” last year for the first time in its 44-year existence.
One encouraging sign: Advance ticket sales for this year’s “Nutcracker,” set to open Dec. 10 in the Ohio Theatre, have been at pre-pandemic levels, Liang said.
Yet, tempering the excitement, unanswered questions loom: Will audiences resume old habits and return to shows, plays and exhibitions? What impact will vaccination rates have on attendance? What about the surge of the delta variant?
“There is a lot that all of us still need to live through before we can get there,” Liang said.
Already, he has instituted one new policy: In addition to requiring all company dancers who can be vaccinated to be vaccinated, Balletmet will limit students who can participate in “The Nutcracker” to age 12 and older. (Most years, the production features those as young as 9.)
The return
Despite the unknowns of the months ahead, Liang – like most area arts leaders – is confident that the show will go on.
“People are excited to be back,” said Chad Whittington, president and CEO of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), a presenter of Broadway in Columbus and other touring shows.
CAPA – which just announced that, effective Sept. 1, nearly all of its venues will require masking of all patrons, staff and volunteers – is a key player in the central Ohio performing-arts scene as owner-operator of the larger Downtown venues, including the Ohio, Palace,
Southern, Lincoln and Riffe Center theaters, home to numerous area arts groups, including Balletmet, CATCO, the Columbus Symphony, Opera Columbus and Promusica Chamber Orchestra. All CAPA performing-arts venues except the Mccoy Center for the Arts in New Albany will abide by the new mask mandate.
“It’s been a long 16 months, but I’m excited that we’re back in theaters with live performances,” Whittington said.
CAPA’S business model, especially for Broadway musicals, requires full-capacity with a corresponding goal of selling a minimum of 60% to 70% of seats in its venues, Whittington said.
“People are buying tickets with that understanding ... of sitting shoulder-toshoulder,” Whittington said.
A big test of that policy, Whittington said, will come in mid-november when the Broadway in Columbus season reopens with “Hadestown,” winner of eight Tony awards, including best musical and score of 2019.
“We’re easing into things with comedy and other single-night shows, but it will pick up very quickly...” he said.
As evidence of pent-up audience interest, the monster-truck event “Monster Jam” drew big crowds when, earlier in the summer, it became the first fullcapacity event to take place at Nationwide Arena in 511 days.
“It was crazy, in a good way,” said Gary O’brien, director of communications for the Schottenstein Center and Nationwide Arena. “Fans were very excited to be back, we were excited to be back.”
Staying safe
As the pandemic changes, arts groups and venues are continuing to update their health and safety protocols.
In addition to mandating masks, CAPA will also honor the policies of individual organizations and acts that require proof of vaccination, though CAPA itself is not issuing the requirement.
Multiple area music venues have already taken the step in requiring patrons to furnish proof of vaccination.
On Aug. 18, Express Live, Newport Music Hall, The Basement and A&R Music Bar – all owned and operated by Promowest Productions – began requiring vaccination proof or a negative COVID-19 test as a condition of admission; starting Oct. 1, vaccination proof will be the only way to attend concerts or events at those venues.
Natalie’s Coal-fired Pizza and Live Music in Worthington and Natalie’s Music Hall & Kitchen in Grandview Heights – both of which have ample bookings into the fall, including blues guitarist Albert Cummings and progressive Western swing trio the Quebe Sisters – are among smaller venues to also shift to a proof-of-vaccination policy.
“I’m hoping that, when all the dust settles, ... people will see us as a safe haven,” said co-owner Charlie Jackson.
Following Broadway shows in New York that are requiring proof of vaccination, several leading central Ohio theater troupes are beginning to implement similar policies.
The Evolution Theatre Company announced that it would require both vaccinations and masking among all patrons, artists and other behind-thescenes personnel for the balance of its season, and the board of the Short North Stage voted Thursday to institute a mask requirement at its performances of “Noises Off” (Sept. 2-19) and “Young Frankenstein” (Oct. 7 through Nov. 7); proof of vaccination, or a negative test for COVID-19, is required to attend starting with “Young Frankenstein.”
Whatever happens, Short North Stage will rely on its resourcefulness and the variety of evolving policies that it’s applied during the past year or so in adapting to further change.
“We feel like we’re ready to provide live theater in Columbus, no matter what’s thrown at us,” Associate Artistic Director Dionysia Williams said.
Shadowbox Live, the Brewery District’s resident-ensemble troupe that presents original sketch-comedy-andmusic shows, new musicals and rock revues, expects to “proceed with caution” into next season, according to Chief Operations Officer Katy Psenicka.
“We’re monitoring progression of the delta variant, weighing that against our pattern of ticket sales and keeping eyes out for any hesitation from patrons to come back to the live venue,” Psenicka said.
Shadowbox Live has modified its health and safety protocols many times, and is ready to do so again, she said.
One recent change requires waiters and other staff to wear masks if they are among those interacting directly with theatergoers at tables.
“We recommend audience members wear masks, and we’ve noticed a higher percentage of people going back to wearing their masks in recent weeks, but we’re not going to enforce that,” Psenicka said.
Ticket sales are strong, she added, with most performances selling out with the current policy limiting occupancy to 100 people in its 300-seat theater. If possible, the troupe plans to expand capacity to 130 people by October, she said.
Late-season openers
Wanting to take stock of coronavirus and vaccination numbers in the fall, some companies held off on their season openers until far later than usual; Balletmet will perform no programs prior to “The Nutcracker,” and Opera Columbus will open its season with “Tosca” a week before Christmas.
CATCO pushed its season-opening production, “Mr. Burns: A Post-electric Play,” to late October, hoping uncertainties over performing-arts guidelines will be resolved or reduced by then.
“We’ll have two more months to make a decision about how things are going with masks and seating capacity,” Artistic Director Leda Hoffmann said.
“It’s so hard to say what we’ll do, but it will be based on recommendations of the CDC, state and city, with a lot driven by the guidelines from our partnership with Actors’ Equity,” Hoffmann said.
Even if seating is reduced to 75% or 50% of capacity in the Riffe Center’s Studio Theatres, CATCO should sell enough tickets to get through the season, she said.
“Artists are really creative people. Central Ohio arts groups are hopeful about figuring out ways to get through this, but we need people to buy tickets and show up and see the shows, plays and concerts,” Hoffmann said.
Ultimately, the bottom line, Hoffman and other arts leaders agreed, is pretty simple.
“The more people who get vaccinated,” she said, “the greater likelihood that we can do the shows we’ve planned and serve the community.”
A sense of hope
Despite the unpredictability of the months ahead, arts leaders across disciplines are entering the new season with a sense of renewed purpose.
“Going through the crisis of the pandemic made us more nimble overall,” said Linda Kass, owner of Gramercy Books, which recently resumed some in-person author events after shifting to virtual appearances.
“In particular, it motivated us to improve our website e-commerce system for improved online purchasing by customers, develop our curbside pickup service, create high quality livestreamed author programming to replace our in-person events, and enhance our overall communication with our community,” Kass said.
And, although the Columbus Museum of Art suffered staff reductions and budget cuts, Executive Director Nannette V. Maciejunes sounded a note of optimism about how the institution will continue to engage with the community, including through the upcoming exhibit “Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources” (Nov. 12 through Feb. 6).
By July, museum attendance had reached 80 percent of pre-pandemic numbers; there’s been a slight decrease in August, the same month that the museum reinstituted a mask requirement for visitors in accordance with city and county guidelines.
“The Columbus Museum of Art has always been a visitor-centered institution, but the pandemic has really made us laser-focused on what our community needs from us,” Maciejunes said. “We’ve learned that the arts have never been more important in people’s lives. It plays a major role in how people connect to one-another, inspiring creativity, wellness and resilience.”
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