Shaw and other summer theatre companies consider outdoor options for upcoming season

After a tumultuous year, theatre artists in Hamilton, Niagara, and Norfolk County are planning a return to the stage and live performance for their 2021 summer seasons.

"These industries are literally the most impacted of any industry," said Shaw Festival executive director Tim Jennings. "We're really hopeful of people coming back — and coming back strongly, but safely." 

Jennings said the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake has been planning its season since November, which includes indoor performances with physically distanced seating. Charley's Aunt begins rehearsals in April for an early-May run with limited capacity at the Royal George Theatre.

The Shaw held concerts last fall, and Jennings said they're considering doing something similar outdoors with the Gypsy company this year. As government direction for what the arts sector could do during the pandemic shifted, he said, it ended with the disappointing loss of the 2021 season's musical.

But that decision, he said, is largely dependent on Niagara's placement and what the rules allow in the provincial government's colour-coded framework.

The Stratford Festival recently announced it will be staging outdoor productions this summer. And though Jennings says the Shaw is holding off on making any firm decisions, it's also thinking about using outdoor canopies. 

He said the festival will be erring on the side of caution, and that the theatre industry as a whole will be asking patience from their audiences. 

A "duty of care" page on the festival website talks about the safety measures being taken, such as having house programs available for personal pick up and cleaning assistive listening devices with minimum 70 per cent isopropyl alcohol between uses. Tickets will be sold in groupings.

Jennings called the arts "food for the soul" and said its absence has been deeply felt. 

"There's a reason why we get up in the morning, and a lot of that has to do with the kinds of things that art serves," he said. 

"The sooner we get back, the better."

The Shaw was one of the organizations that received arts funding from the provincial government earlier in March. Its amount was just under $1 million. 

Lighthouse Festival Theatre

Derek Ritschel, artistic director of Lighthouse Festival Theatre, says it's been encouraging to see the vast majority of theatres planning live performance. 

"There is a boat load of entertainment coming this summer. It's just a matter of holding a little longer to see what it looks like," he said.

The Port Dover theatre has been exploring several scenarios over the past few months, he said, including a tented outdoor option. It's also waiting to make an official decision. 

Because people might not be indoors, Ritschel said it opens doors for an exciting, different experience for audiences. All of the festival's planned shows are world premieres written by Canadians. 

Other theatres have been thinking differently this season, such as considering solely one-act shows to eliminate intermissions and cut down on audience movement, he said. Writers too are thinking outside of the box. 

"It's all being customized by not being able to do our traditional seasons," he said. "So all this art is being developed that would not have been developed if there was no pandemic … it could be a really, really interesting year for people who like live entertainment."

Money from the province

Lighthouse also received funding from the province in the amount of about $71,000. It's an amazing influx of money, Ritschel said, but barely scratches the surface of a year without their doors open. The festival normally does about $1.3 million in ticket sales. 

"Just showing up and supporting the theatres and being there for them is going to be paramount this summer," he said of audience support. 

Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, meanwhile, just cancelled a three-play mini seasons set to run from March to mid May. 

"It's been a hard year for everyone in the performing arts, especially for professional theatres," executive director Lorna Zaremba said in a media release. 

The theatre says it's "cautiously planning" to stage the Johnny Cash musical Ring of Fire in June, and "more details will be available in the coming weeks."

Hamilton Fringe Festival

Hamilton's Fringe Festival, scheduled for July 14 to 25, is planning a mix of artistic formats, from digital content to live performances — including at-a-distance "Skip the Glitches" productions that audience members can order for delivery to their home. 

Christopher Stanton, festival director, said the current proposal includes four main stages for its lottery series. Three of those will be indoors with COVID-19 protocols in place, and the other is a new outdoor stage at John Rebecca Park. 

"We feel pretty good about where we're sitting in terms of our ability to support many, many different forms of the artists' creativity," Stanton said. 

"That's what our creativity and innovation is about. To make sure that we're supporting the artistic community here in Hamilton, and making sure that folks have a way of getting their work out because it should be seen."

The festival's also looking to other fringes that have offered programming throughout the pandemic for best practices, Stanton said. 

The fringe will use bigger venues with capacity limits and ushered seating. All tickets will be purchased online, contact tracing will be in place, and masks will be mandatory. 

Skip the Glitches

There will be also be more time between shows for cleaning protocols, and an option to "tap" to tip the fringe by card rather than putting cash into a bucket. 

Three venues are secured for the festival's Bring Your Own Venue stream with several confirmed shows. Two of those are churches, Stanton said, which bring a great deal of experience in running day-to-day during the pandemic. 

Stanton said the festival is ready to change it up, if needed.

The "Skip the Glitches" format was developed last year, he said, and might continue in future years because of its fun spirit. The "punk rock" nature of how the fringe was born, and the organization's size, lends itself to a certain "nimbleness" in real time, he said.

"If we have to shift things, we shift them, and we pivot again. We've done it before."