ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY evolves for the times

By Beverly Medlyn

Not many plays open and close on the same night.

But that’s what happened March 13, 2020, to “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” a comedy about a beleaguered Elvis impersonator named Casey who lost his job when the bar’s owner replaced Casey’s act with a drag show to attract more customers. Ever resourceful, Casey transformed himself from “The King” to a “queen,” and the show went on!

Like Casey, Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) made a quick pivot when the coronavirus pandemic threatened its production of “Georgia McBride.”

ATC’s new leadership team had the foresight to videotape the opening/closing night performance. When COVID-19 restrictions hit, the team worked with the cast, crew and unions to put the production on an online viewing platform, Vimeo. The scramble to survive worked.

Though the pandemic has been a massive drain on revenue this year, “never let a good crisis go to waste,” observed Sean Daniels, artistic director. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Like many nonprofits, ATC had been a bit behind in developing infrastructure. The shutdown afforded an opportunity to make improvements across the organization, from technology to finance to human resources, says Geri Wright, managing director.

Wright and Daniels are both new in their roles at ATC. Wright began this year after serving five years at Act One, most recently as president and CEO, and previous service heading development efforts for the American Red Cross Grand Canyon Chapter and the Heard Museum. Daniels came on board in 2019, a move home to Arizona after an extensive career on the East Coast as artistic director and playwright.

THE SILVER LINING

Now celebrating its 54th season, ATC enjoys the state’s largest subscriber base of any performing arts organization. More than 130,000 people a year typically attend performances at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

The 2020-2021 works left those buildings to offer digital productions and workshops, a talk show, outdoor musical performances and more outreach to schools. Online offerings are mainly free or at substantially reduced cost.

ATC’s regular season of live stage performances was pushed back to early 2021, with shows to be presented throughout the spring and even into summer, when theaters are traditionally dark.

A video option will be offered to those who can’t come to the theater.

The metamorphosis has been well received.

“The silver lining is that suddenly the world can see the work that we are doing online,” says Daniels, artistic director. “We have always said the work we do is world class. So often we hear from people who see our shows, ‘This is just as good as what I saw in London or New York.’ What is great in this moment of sharing is now everyone can see we are produce world-class theatre.”

A free online production of The White Chip, written by Daniels, drew 10,000 viewers, he says.

In July, some 24,000 people watched The 24-Hour Plays, a national project pairing playwrights and actors to create monologues in 24 hours. ATC partnered with the national program, which focused for the first time on a single state, involving 28 Arizona playwrights and actors.

Hang & Focus is a new weekly podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, featuring ATC leaders interviewing people about various aspects of theater and relevant topics.

“We are connecting with younger, more diverse audiences,” Daniels says. “If you’re going to attract anybody under age 50, you have to have a great online presence, you just have to.”

The organization also hopes to connect with every school in the state, again using technology to bring actors, directors and theater experts to middle and high school students through virtual learning. “This is another way to build relationships,” Daniels said.

COMING TOGETHER AGAIN

Live performance will always be the bedrock of theater.

“We will return to stage. We will. But it will be in 2021 when it is safe to do so,” says Managing Director Wright.

A 20-plus page safety plan has been created to protect actors, staff and patrons. It includes sanitizing, air handling, face masks, barriers at the box office, traffic flow, even deep cleaning for actors’ costumes.

“It is a significant investment — hundreds of thousands of dollars — to get these safety measures in place,” Wright says. “We are working as hard as we can to be as responsible as possible to everyone involved. We will go back to stage when we feel like people will fill our theaters.”

Sustainability is one of the greatest challenges for arts organizations.

“I have read that 40 percent of nonprofit organizations will not make it through this pandemic, which is disheartening,” Wright says. “We mean not to be part of that 40 percent. I ask our patrons and donors to support us, with subscriptions and donations, to keep the theater going so we are here at this time next year.”

For more information, visit arizonatheatre.org.