All the World’s a S C R E E N
Mile Square Theatre gives new meaning to “The show must go on!” By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Mile Square Theatre
T
he lights have been dim, and the curtains closed for more than a year on Broadway and in local theaters across the country. Mile Square Theatre is gearing up to take to the stage again as herd immunity strengthens in Hoboken. “Last March, we pivoted immediately to virtual platforms which was a huge learning curve,” says dance director Sarah Weber Gallo. “We had to familiarize ourselves with new technology very quickly. We didn’t miss a single day of instruction.” “We kept all of our teachers employed which we were really proud of,” says Annie
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McAdams, director of education. “We were fortunate in that the PPP loans allowed us to do that.” A “precarious existence” is how she describes the artist’s life. Mile Square maintained some normalcy by continuing their programs. “All of the students have done a great job, but they crave social interaction,” Weber Gallo says. “We’ve had to adjust our teaching to allow for a little more vocalization or conversation than we would normally allow in a dance class.” “As a parent whose daughters both dance with Sarah, I was so grateful that they were moving their bodies, even though they didn’t work as hard on Zoom as they do in person.,” McAdams says.
“All of us have a little bit of trouble focusing on Zoom sometimes.”
Virtual Virtuosos “We normally produce a fundraiser called the “7th Inning Stretch,” which is three days of new short plays about baseball,” McAdams says. “Instead we produced a sort of variety hour that was streamed. It had some Zoom plays about baseball, but because we weren’t in person, we were able to access some talent that was in California, and people who normally wouldn’t be able to come to Hoboken performed little bits and pieces.” Weber Gallo adds, “We also were able to bring in students from outside the area. One of our dance families gave the
gift of our summer camp to a cousin in Colombia, so we suddenly had an international reach. It’s an unexpected gift from this crazy year.” Going virtual has broadened the audience. “I think that we all might be a little bit tired of watching Zoom performances, but I do think we will continue to use the technology,” Weber Gallo says. Even now that small, masked in-person audiences are being welcomed into the theater, it will continue to livestream performances. “That way any grandparents from anywhere in the world can participate in watching. It’s sort of a lovely opportunity that we didn’t have before.”
