On March 13th, Christian pop star TobyMac will perform at the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock.
The performance did not continue.
This is the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States, and concerts and public gatherings have ceased. Cher has cancelled her performance on the stage on March 11.
The Simmons Bank Arena has never had a concert crowd, although the stage was empty in the headlines of Justin Moore's streaming benefit show from there on April 11.
There were no performances at the Arkansas Drama Theater in Little Rock, no sweating performances at the Whitewater Pub, Vino’s Brew Pub or Rev Room, while other venues continued to hold events or produce online performances for a limited crowd.
We talked with the directors and staff of several theaters, clubs and Simmons Bank Arena in Arkansas to understand the situation in the past 9 months. Many stages and seats were vacant, and there was no obvious end to the epidemic.
Will Trice, Executive Art Director of The Rep, said: "From the beginning, our strategy was to reduce operations as much as possible, basically waiting for this storm. We decided not to commit to any programming before the 2021 season when the pandemic started. ."
The pandemic has hit Rep particularly severely, as the long-running venues escaped the suspension of operations due to lack of funds and just regained a foothold when they had to close.
Trice said that it received funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (also known as the CARES Act) and received donations from supporters, but most of the 25 to 30 full-time employees of the entire Rep It was released all summer.
Tris said: "Even for simple operations, we have to bear a lot of management costs, and we have no normal income."
The final work of Rep's 385-seat main stage auditorium is "Ann", which lasts until February 23.
Tris said: "We are rehearsing the production of a dream-seeking "Curious Event of the Dog at Night".
He said that there have been no theater performances in the past nine months. "As a practitioner and an audience, it is frustrating." "I think everyone who likes theater will feel frustrated."
The Simmons Arena has 18,000 seats, and general manager Michael Marion said that 5 of the stadium’s 25 members have been fired, while others have been partially on leave.
Although things are progressing slowly, there is still hope that events will restart in 2021.
"We are preparing for next year's performance," Marion said. "The family show-Disney on ice, giant truck-are interested in leaving early next year."
Earlier this month, the arena announced that it will be the site of the professional bull rider tour from February 20th to 21st. Throughout the summer, this is where the weekly food truck event is held, and the KTHV-11 blood donation event will be held on Tuesday.
The venue will hold several major concerts this year, including the rock dance Hip Hop in April and Elton John's farewell tour in July (this event has been rescheduled to January 29, 2022).
Marion echoes the prospects in spring.
"When we closed, we still thought we were going to be Elton John on July 30. We just knew that it couldn't pass. We have arranged a schedule for the fall performance, and obviously, all of this has changed. I tell everyone now, "I just don't know. "We just need to hang there."
Marion said that large-scale programs may not be feasible until the social distancing requirements are relaxed.
He said: "When social distancing relaxes, when the governors are satisfied with the number of vaccinated, we will be able to return to normal." "The entire industry is looking forward to next summer or autumn."
He pointed out that there are signs of optimism that people are asking for less refunds for concerts that postpone their performances, which also shows people's determination to perform.
"People want to see the show. I think the demand has been suppressed a lot. We have re-scheduled the show with very little refund. People expect everything will be fine, and they want to see these artists."
Theatre Square in Fayetteville (TheatreSquared) has a grand plan for 2020. It celebrated its 15th anniversary and built an award-winning 50,000 square foot campus. The production of "Ann" has been expanded, and other production is underway.
Art director and co-founder Bob Ford (Bob Ford) said: "We have to tilt all, and then we put everything aside."
He said: "We spent the reopening contingency plan in March and April." "Going back to those naive days, we think we can start again in the summer."
Ford said that cessation of operations was not part of the plan, and none of its 30 or so employees were fired.
"We know that there are many things we can do to attract people and hope to fully explore this before adopting the nuclear option, but we have not done it yet."
TheatreSquared started its online transition with the Arkansas New Game Festival, a development program that allows employees to easily enter the virtual process and become a regular product.
Ford said: "This is a good, controlled experiment." "You are not doing a complete production. A few actors will get their script, and we are talking about the script."
Among these scripts is "Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy", which is a complete online work produced in collaboration with TheatreWorks Hartford, a non-profit theater company in Connecticut, and was named the best theater of 2020 by the New York Times.
TheatreSquared is currently playing Lauren Gunderson's "Mary Curie's Half-Life", which will end today and is adapted from Amy Herzberg and Ford's "A Christmas Carol" until December 27.
"Marie Curie's Half-Life" was praised as "excellent" and "beautiful performance" by the critic Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal on December 3.
Ford said: "We have an amazing group of subscribers and it is their obligation to provide theaters." "When our box office tells them we can't enter the theater, people always know it, but we will send it to you. They know , This is the bridge when we return to the theater. It allows actors and everyone who is engaged in theater work."
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In the first few months of the pandemic, the staff at the Argenta Community Theater "are playing short games, we will postpone it for a few weeks, and then postpone it for a few more weeks," said executive director Laura Grimes (Laura Grimes).
She said that the theater has now transformed itself into "looking for channels that can interact with the audience and provide our artists with creativity in a safe and responsible manner."
These include transferring educational programs to virtual platforms and collaborating with other groups to showcase virtual performances, such as the recently produced radio drama "World War."
Grimes said: "It is important for us to come up with a way that can almost participate." "We found that whatever you can adapt and create a channel, it is widely welcomed and enriched by artists."
In the early days of the pandemic, the theater received a "Salary Protection Program" loan, which allowed the theater to retain some staff and then sack them in May (Grimes was the only full-time employee). The state also provided a small number of "ready" grants.
She said: "Our financial model is mainly based on ticket revenue." "When we are not producing shows, our expenses are reduced, but there are still expenses that need to be paid."
Grimes has always focused on becoming an artistic hero (
), advocating the enactment of art relief laws during the pandemic.
She said: "This industry is bound to be the first to close and will be the last to reopen." "I hope we can reach the point where at least some additional assistance or funds are available... Art is for us to use it as It’s important for a society to deal with it. Whether we are consumers of art, performers or participants, this is what enables us to experience compassion and grow as people grow. Art is what we are in during this time Pursued, but its practitioners have been left out."
In El Dorado, MusicFest 2020 and other concerts planned to be held in the Murphy Art District have been moved to 2021.
University of Arkansas Center for Humanities and Arts (CHARTS)-The Pulaski Institute of Technology in North Little Rock was forced to postpone its ambitious 2020-2021 season, which included Bobby McFerlin, Jane Lynch and Kate Fran Nari, Arnie de Franco and others.
The school’s director of public relations and marketing, Tim Jones, said: “The important thing is that we should do these performances the way we should and do it safely.” “We had to reschedule these schedules, and "Standing out" is to keep the stage moving.
Outside the chart is a series of stream events recorded in the CHARTS phase.
Upcoming events include the Arkansas State Ballet’s favorites from The Nutcracker at 6pm on Thursday, Broadway singer Drew Jansen and pianist Jimmy Martin’s cabaret performances, and pop music standards on January 7 and Minnijean Brown-Trickey and Spirit Tawfiq, members of Little Rock Nine, were in a program titled "Legacy of Resistance: Intergenerational Dialogue on Activism" on February 4. All three activities are free.
Jones said: "We have the stage, the lights, the camera." "We have some people who know what they are doing. This will be a missed opportunity. All of this will be ignorant. Although there is a pandemic, but We have many tools for us to use, and the local talent is abundant."
The small, non-profit Weekend Theatre in Little Rock cancelled the 2020 season, but premiered its first virtual event on November 27, a fundraiser called "Covid Cabaret."
Andrea McDaniel, the executive director of the theater, said: "This is the first thing we have done since the launch of COVID-19, and it was a success."
McDaniel said otherwise, the situation has been calm. Board meetings are held once a month, and the theater requires the production of original works.
She said: "We hope to show the original play next spring." "It's a good thing to start again... But we don't want to do this until people can enter safely."
Before closing, the theater is preparing to produce the musical "Crown".
McDaniel said: "We hope we can revisit the show once it reopens because people put a lot of work into it."
Executive and artistic director Kristi Pulliam (Kristi Pulliam) said that in Jonesboro's non-profit organization Art Foundation, events and educational programs continue to face-to-face, but the activity capacity and online number are limited.
"We wrote a plan for the governor and the Arkansas Department of Health very early to hold the event in person, and they approved the plan," Puliam said.
For those who choose not to attend in person, the foundation has also transferred a virtual version of its live events.
According to the guiding principle of physical distance, “We can’t accommodate almost that many people, so this brings us a real financial struggle. Virtual programming cannot bring enough income. Keeping open will be a huge challenge, but we will Adhere to and follow the guidelines of the Arkansas Department of Health, adhere to and provide as much face-to-face and virtual programming as possible in a safe manner."
Back in North Little Rock, the more than 100-seat theater owned by Steve Farrell and his wife Vicki reopened in July after closing in March.
"We have to sit 20 to 30 people, and everyone must be at least six feet apart," said Farrell, who performed with Vicki and Brett Ihler of the comedy team The Main Thing. "There is a lot of elbow space, and we require customers to always wear masks."
Due to reduced revenue due to reduced capacity, the site has established a GoFundMe page to help expenditures (see
For more information).
During the Main Thing performance, Farrells was on stage, and Ihler was performing in the theater's technical booth.
Farrell said the venue also features stand-up comedies and impromptu performances, but its music events have been cancelled. He added that during the pandemic, the crowd is biased towards young people because many older people prefer to stay at home.
The performance started in September at Stickyz Rock'n'Roll Chicken Shack, a restaurant and concert venue in Little Rock. The capacity is limited, masks are needed and body distancing is required.
Although the second phase of the state's pandemic plan allows two-thirds of the stadium capacity, Stickyz co-owner Chris King said: "We decided we could run with one-third of the seats, This means that about 65 tickets for performances can be sold, and people can be transported to space and safely out of this room."
Jin said that tickets are sold as reserved seats, which are the first seats in the venue.
"When they walked in, we designated their table. There was no dance floor or pit."
Since March 13, the Rev Room, which can accommodate 600 people (like Stickyz, which owns Kings like Kingy), has been closed a few blocks east.
He said: "Even if there is only one-third of the capacity, it will be difficult to run." "We just feel uncomfortable. Even with one-third of the capacity, we have to talk about 200 people here."
The number of performances in Stickyz has also been greatly reduced. There used to be a few nights a week, but now there are only a few weeks.
Jin Zai said last month: "As the number goes up, I'm not sure if we will do other things." "We just do it once a week and make sure everyone follows the guidelines."
King started his professional show in 1991 and noticed that the situation has changed a lot since March.
"This is my only job. I have booked more than 15,000 shows, and now my workload has been greatly reduced. I usually don't do things all day.
"I hope that whenever normalcy returns, people will appreciate art such as live music more. I think the $5 cover fee for local bands may be a thing of the past. People may be willing to spend a little more to watch local entertainment and national tours. Because they had to leave for so long."
One day, there will be an open night again. We will line up for productions or concerts, and sit down with dozens, hundreds, and thousands of other fans. We will be influenced by the artist's performance on the stage, entertained, and moved.
As Congressman Trice said: "This is a delightful, group-sharing experience. The room is full of energy and energy. The audience gathers in the same place as the artist and we all experience it at the same time. There is no such thing as that. Thing."
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