The Women’s Chorus gathered together at the Nasher for its end of season gathering after a virtual season of concerts. (Courtesy photo)
The return to the stage has already begun in North Texas, bringing hope back for the future of the arts
RICH LOPEZ | STAFF WRITER
rich@dallasvoice.com
No one needs to be reminded how bad the past year-plus has been for everyone. But the arts took some big hits. And those hits extend to audiences who are fans of live music, theater and dance. Shows and seasons were canceled. Shared experiences with fellow patrons moved to computer screens.
The pandemic is still upon us, but, with vaccinations and new Center for Disease Control guidelines and actors union rules, stages have started to make a comeback — and that gives audiences a whole lot of hope.
Area companies have offered their thoughts on what today looks like for them and more importantly what the future holds. For those who have made the return already, it’s been an emotional time.
“Oh my gosh! We returned to the stage for our UNITE show on June 4-6 at Moody Performance Hall. It was truly overwhelming to be back in front of an audience in a theater and feel the electricity between the audience and the dancers. Wow. It’s the magic of the theater whereby you are sitting in an amazing theater with excellent acoustics, lighting, sightlines, comfortable chairs, etc., and all attention is on the stage. We felt tremendous gratitude to the city of Dallas for running the Moody, our donors, grantors, technical crew, press, audiences and dancers. The synergy was electric. Gratitude was so heartfelt.”
— Gayle Halperin, Bruce Wood Dance executive director.
At UNITE, the company debuted two world premieres, including Blue by artistic director Joy Bollinger and Sombreristas by out choreographer Omar Roan De Jesus.
There were rules to follow, however, to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
“Uptown Players returned to the stage on July 9 in coordination with Actors Equity Association, the union for actors and stage managers.
In order to reopen, Uptown Players followed all union safety requirements and applied those requirements to our staff, designers and musicians as well. Combining those requirements and restrictions with those of the CDC made us feel confident that we would be returning to the stage as safely as possible. Because we strictly follow these requirements, Uptown Players and its board of directors feels confident that our programming can continue.”
— Jeff Rane, Uptown Players founder.
Bruce Wood Dance performed UNITE at the Moody this summer.
While venues and companies presented shows this summer, there were some live stage offerings since 2020.
“The AT&T Performing Arts Center reopened its outdoor venue Strauss Square last September to socially-distanced audiences seated on its lawn and have been presenting shows ever since. We have since reopened the Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre as well.
Because almost no concert artists were touring at the time, the center made Strauss Square available to local performing arts
organizations while their traditional venues were closed. We waived rent only just charging any hard costs. This provided a critical performance platform for these arts organizations. More than 30 Dallas arts organizations have performed on Strauss Square during the pandemic.
We were able to do this because our arts community worked together with experts to create a series of safety protocols for reopening, which dozens of groups adopted. We demonstrated that by following these, we could have live, in-person performances without them becoming super-spreaders.”
— Chris Heinbaugh, vice-president of external affairs at the AT&T Performing Arts Center
For all companies, preparation was key — from weekly tests to Actors Equity guidelines to collaborations and partnerships with other companies. Optimism is there, but it’s also circumspect. Plus, it’s not necessarily the fastest process.
“While we expect it will take some time for our industry to fully recover, we are cautiously optimistic as we look toward the upcoming 2021-2022 season.
Before any audiences or patrons were welcomed back to the building, Performing Arts Fort Worth hired an outside consultant to conduct an assessment of the HVAC system in Bass Performance Hall. Based on industry standards and guidelines to reopen safely, Bass Performance Hall’s HVAC system scored a high level of compliance with spaces scoring at least an ‘excellent’ level rating.
Performing Arts Fort Worth has a multi-layer defense strategy in Bass Hall to reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus.”
— Jason Wise, Performing Arts Fort Worth vice-president of programming and engaging management. PAFW is the nonprofit owner and operator of Bass Hall.
Protocols had to be instilled by every company large or small. For nonprofits, this meant costs added to any upcoming productions, and that added to operating budgets. There is also the question of making such protocols permanent or keeping them only until this pandemic is over — whenever that is.
“For our weekly rehearsals, we have required all of our singers to be vaccinated to attend in-person, and, as the mask mandate has come back, we too are requiring our singers to be masked and to distance when possible. For our upcoming concert in August, we are going to require masks of our patrons and our singers. As we continue to plan for the fall, we are reaching out to our partner arts organizations to determine if we all can require our patrons to be vaccinated and what impact that might have. All of these protocols I believe would go away or be lessened as the threat of the pandemic lessens and as more people are vaccinated.”
— Jeremy Wayne, executive director of the Turtle Creek Chorale.
Others are still waiting it out for now.
“We are continuing to delay concerts amidst the current COVID threat, and when deemed safe to hold performances, will liaise with the venues about what will be required and safe. The current feeling is for singers and staff to stay masked and distanced from the audience.”
— Crystal Koe, executive director of the Women’s Chorus of Dallas.
Along with protecting performers and crew, companies had to consider audience perspectives. Venues and companies needed to reassure their patrons that they were safe, the from beginning to the end of their performances. Approaches to this aspect vary.
“Currently, we are using paperless ticketing and programs. We are asking audience members to continue to wear masks. We are working with the touring companies to assure we are all on the same page with safety protocols. This is an ever-changing scenario right now, so all of this is shifting as need be, but TITAS is working closely with the AT&T Performing Arts Center to assure alignment and safety.”
– TITAS/Unbound executive director Charles Santos
“We have hired Justin Miller to be our COVID safety professional, to give us guidance as to best practices. (He is serving the same function for The Dallas Opera.) Our planned return to Bass Hall is April 22 and 24. At this time, we are not mandating anything from our audiences. The challenge now will be keeping audiences mindful that there is still a pandemic going on, so that while they are inside theaters they are distancing and, if need be, wearing face coverings. It’s understandable that audiences are hungry to get back into theaters to see live shows, so we will really have to monitor the situation as it changes daily and weekly, and respond in the safest way possible.”
— Joe Illick, Fort Worth Opera artistic director.
The recovery effort involved in of all this is immense and expensive. For nonprofit theater companies, this is another challenge. But the general consensus across these companies is an overriding thrill to get back to the stage, face new challenges and make new goals. Often love wins, but by the sounds and looks of it, love of the arts is winning big.
“Goals: Make concerts more impactful than ever. Keep diversity, equity, and inclusion paramount. Move the singers and audience with every song we choose.”
— Melinda Imthurn, TWC artistic director
“We will continue to perform live, so our only contingency plans are safety protocols with singers and audience alike. We know COVID will be with us for a long time to come, and it is our responsibility to keep the singers singing and the audiences engaged, entertained and hopeful.”
— Sean Baugh, TCC artistic director
“I think some of the most unusual and fun shows were the two drag shows that TITAS presented featuring the artists from the Rose Room. These artists had not performed since shut down, and they did an amazing job on the stage. I’m not sure anyone quite envisioned that when the center opened 11 years ago, but every one of them did an amazing job. And because we were all tipping using Venmo, I think all of them had a pretty good night.”
— Heinbaugh.
“We are definitely moving forward. Our job is to serve the public and we’ll continue to adapt to the changing COVID situation. We will continue through the new 2021-2022 season. Probably the biggest challenge is that we’re going into the new season with burn-out from the past year. It’s hard to renew and continue to motivate onward. Financially — it’s always a challenge, but more so in the future when there will not be those PPP loans. It’ll definitely become harder.
We continue onward; it’s what we do.”
— Halperin.
Read additional responses from these companies online at DallasVoice.com.
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WAIT… THERE’S MORE!
After a year of cancellations and scrambling to find ways to reach audiences, North Texas’ Arts+Entertainment companies and organizations have gifted us with so many new, renewed and amazing opportunities to be entertained and enlightened that we could not fit it all into the print edition of our 2021 Applause issue.
So what does that mean? Well, it means that you will find all of the print content AND MORE available online at DallasVoice.com. Be sure to log on and visit our website to see exclusive content such as a profile on the renovations and improvements now underway at Theatre Arlington, a review of Wicked, now on stage at Dallas Summer Musicals, an interview with LGBTQ ally and singer Betty Who, opening Friday night in Dallas for Kesha and full seasonal listings from companies in Dallas, Fort Worth and beyond.
But on a more cautious note, remember: COVID-19 continues to be a looming presence in our community, in our state and around the world. Please support our Art+Entertainment community across North Texas, but please do so responsibly. Get vaccinated if you can; wear a mask; wash your hands; practice social distancing. Help keep yourself and your friends, families and neighbors safe.
And, if the pandemic should force changes in the schedules and plans you see here, be patient and know that these organizations, companies and individuals continue to need your support and your understanding.
