Hello, Theatre Patrons-
Hope you have been well.
I’ve been dragging my feet on this announcement, dreading the reality of it I suppose. But the fact that it depresses me doesn’t make it any less true- live theatre, as we knew it in its previous form, continues to be unsafe and unpractical. If you were to ask me at the start of 2020 what August was going to look like, I would have anticipated a successful run of not only “Woolf”, but “Richard II” and currently starting rehearsals for “Dr. Seward’s Dracula”. If you would have asked me again in May, I would have given you a sheepish “I’m about 60/40 on whether we are on for opening our postponed “Woolf” in October.” And here we are.
The fact of the matter is, until we can ensure the safety of actors during a rehearsal process (and audience during performance), we cannot commence with theatre as we knew it before. This means we must pivot or hold our breath.
Pivoting means evolving our notions of what theatre can look like- this can be virtual performances, taking this time to develop and workshop our own material and/or choosing content based on the ability to have socially distant rehearsals with an eventual outdoor performance.
The latter garbley-gook roughly translates as picking plays to produce that aren’t “Woolf” and don’t include proximity, spitting and the like.
We’ve recently explored a play that is basically a dark courtroom dramady. Very little touching, although, touching. The timing of the above realizations concluded that the summer of 2020 was a wash. There would be no time for a quality product and no guarantee of reasonable weather if we took the time we need. We were able to have an exclusive reading of the play in my backyard- complete with tiki torches. It was lovely, sure, but the lack of inclusivity left me… well, depressed.
(P.S. “hold our breath” equals an eventual death, of both our creative spirits and our company. Hearts beat slower, expenses remain. Not to be morose.)
I’d much prefer the pivot. But I need input, involvement (and perhaps most importantly) reinforcement (positive and literal) from the community, artists and audience alike. What would you like to see? Do you want to contribute? DOES THEATRE EVEN MATTER!? (My crisis is showing, oops.)
Anyway.
All of this to announce the we are indefinitely postponing our October production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” by Edward Albee. Our eventual aim is to produce this when we can- but with the inability to project the future comes the inability to plan.
Your feedback is desired. Your presence is most certainly, missed. Please don’t be a stranger and hold tight- 2020 is almost over kinda.
Always yours,
Jamie Weeder, Artistic Director Wolf's Head Theater Co./Upper Peninsula Shakespeare Festival.