When The Curtain Rises Again

Theaters throughout Los Angeles County, including Pasadena,  have remained pretty tightly shut since the beginning of the pandemic more than a year ago.

But after a difficult and challenging time, things could be changing.

On March 5, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that theater productions and concerts could take place outdoors, at just 20% capacity, with only California residents in attendance and performers tested regularly. 

The rule went into effect on Thursday, quickly followed the next day by the approval of indoor performances beginning April 15.

Under the indoor rules, like L.A. County, which is in the orange tier, venues are being allowed to put on shows with 15% or 200 people, whichever is fewer. In the least restrictive yellow tier, that capacity would increase to 25% or 300 people. 

Through it all, Danny Feldman, producing artistic director at the Pasadena Playhouse, has battled the pandemic challenge with his own innovations. 

As he told Pasadena Now Thursday, “It has been a very challenging time for all of us, yet out of challenging times, comes innovation and positivity.” 

But they didn’t come without some painful decisions, he admits. 

“Like most businesses early on in this,” he said, “we had to make changes with staff reductions and limited services. But we also were really guided by our mission of enriching our community, and we really began to think about ‘What are the core tenets of what theater really does in terms of bringing people together and bringing conversation and world-class art to them?’ And how can we do that in new ways?” 

The theater launched Playhouse Live, a digital performance platform that enabled the company to employ well over a hundred artists and personnel, early in the pandemic, as a direct response to the shutdown.

“We got some money flowing into the creative economy again,” he said. “Which was really important, not at the same degree as when we do season shows on our stage, but it was something because I think that what the public doesn’t quite have a grasp of is that we see all the actors on stage, but they may not see the designers, the directors, the production people, the people building our scenery, and the props people.”

As Feldman noted, “All of those people have had no work for an extraordinarily long amount of time, much more than restaurants.”

Feldman also pointed out that movie theaters can open with 48 hours notice. 

“They just get that movie into the projector and start that popcorn machine back up, and they are ready,” he said. “We make our productions right here from scratch, and that can take years.”

Taking a longer view toward the future, Feldman voices a cautious and realistic hope.

“We’re all anxious to get back,” he said,  “not just here at the Pasadena Playhouse, but to all of our lives and all the things we love. Everyone’s knocking on wood that this is going to go the right way, but it’s still not a place (where) a cultural institution or nonprofit is at a decision point to make a large-scale financial commitment to a specific date to be back.”

That’s his short-term outlook, he said, continuing, “I think in the longer term, as we all look at 2022, we all feel pretty solidly that by that point, things will be totally back to normal in some way in terms of capacity.”

Michael Bateman, managing director of  A Noise Within, echoes Feldman’s points to a large degree, saying, “We’ve managed to lean into the parts of our mission that we can deliver. And we’ve done that in various ways over the course of the past year, from the initial pivot to a virtual gala and immediate transference of some of our teaching artists, lectures or workshops to digital formats.” 

But the theater is working on something far larger, Bateman revealed. The company is currently in production on what Bateman described as the “most sophisticated of the virtual lot,” fully filmed three-or-four-camera, staged productions from their upcoming season.

Bateman acknowledged realistically, “What is best about that is that it’s full work weeks, and health benefits and everything for the actors.”

A Noise Within’s production of “Iliad” will begin streaming on April 22, and “Alice in Wonderland,” which was running when the shutdown began in March last year, will begin filming next week and will be streaming in a few weeks, said Bateman. 

Like Feldman, Bateman acknowledges the flashes of light in the dark year, saying, “Just like everybody in performing arts, we’ve had a tough time economically in the pandemic. But there’s been a lot of support from our donors and friends and also a lot of very much appreciated relief nationally, and from the state and the county, and even from the city of Pasadena.”

Cheryl Rizzo, the managing director of Boston Court, saw both sides of the artistic and commercial struggle when audiences shied away from digital programming.

Said Rizzo, “We tried to pivot and do more online programming, which we did quite a bit of. But we had patrons who were just not interested in going online and they told us that and they said, ‘We’ll definitely be back.’ So we were very lucky in that way.”

Rizzo also noted the difficulty of mounting theater in small venues like Boston Court, which has two spaces, with a main stage theater of only 99 seats.

There is a smaller theater, a music space which is more flexible, said Rizzo, but that answer is problematic as well, she pointed out.

“That only seats about 70 to 80 people. So, you know, when we talk about a 10% rate or 20%, you know, we’re talking about, you know, either nine people in the main stage or 18 people in the main stage.” 

And less in the music space. 

“So it’s not going to be cost-effective for us to open immediately, she said. But, echoing Feldman and Bateman, Rizzo added, “I think the bigger issue is that theater takes a long time to create. 

“It’s not the kind of thing you can throw together quickly,” she continued “There’re relationships to be made. You have to hire designers and find the play that actually works for your mission. Theater is hard.”

Rizzo is currently aiming for a 2022 season, but also said that a fall 2021 reopening is possible. 

“I am treading very carefully down the path of reopening,” she said. “I don’t want to not only have to shut back down, but I also want to make sure that reopening is  safe.”