Sacramento-Area Theatres on How They're Staying Afloat Amidst the Health Crisis

Sutter Street Theatre is one of many Sacramento-area theatre companies forced to switch gears due to the health crisis.

The company is currently in rehearsal for two youth productions of Peter Pan and Sweeney Todd, performed outdoors in a parking lot of their warehouse, Cap Radio reports.

"I said 'that's it, I don't think we can do the show'," Director Alison Gilbreath recalls thinking when the health crisis first began. "And we scrambled, scrambled, and then we're like 'let's take it outside.'"

Everyone gets a temperature check at the start of rehearsal, and actors wear face masks.

"When they're in a big group singing together, they wear their masks. When it's just a few of them in major, they drop them," Gilbreath said.

Other theatres in the area have been forced to cancel their usual performances, moving to outdoor or online productions.

California Stage recently built a stage in an open-air courtyard, and Davis Musical Theatre Company will be presenting three musicals on Zoom. B Street Theatre is in talks with the city about hosting socially distanced indoor events, selling one third of their seats. In the meantime, they have also taken to Zoom performances.

Broadway Sacramento president Richard Lewis said they won't stage a show until the state says indoor theatres can reopen as they were.

"Social distancing will not work," he said. "It won't work in the front of the house. It won't work backstage. It won't work in the seating area. We need every single seat available to sell."

Read more on Cap Radio.

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