1 minute read
RECONFIGURING
. Photo by 80 Grit Films
by Rae Geoffrey, Managing Director, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts
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On Friday, March 12, 2021, armed with painter’s tape, neon green cardstock and a tape measure, Wortham Center staff mapped the 500-seat Diana Wortham Theatre, creating a new, socially distant 150-seat configuration. Never has the possibility of 150 patrons made us quite this giddy.
On this same day last year, Wortham Center was in the throes of a groundbreaking performance experience in the newly opened Tina McGuire Theatre. Audiences were close enough to make eye contact with artists from Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, get splattered with whipped cream, and even share a spaghetti dinner with performers, blissfully unaware that this would be the last show for a year.
Enter COVID and a year of unimaginable impact — hundreds of events canceled or rescheduled, half a million dollars and counting in lost revenue. We’ve said goodbye to treasured patrons and staff members, watched beloved artists change course, witnessed new spaces waiting in deafening silence.
And yet, we’ve persisted. We’ve adapted. We’ve learned.
We’ve stretched the limits of our imagination to connect audiences and artists. Using virtual technology and unusual performance spaces, we’ve reached new national and global audiences. We’ve developed deeper connections with supporters, nurtured meaningful friendships with artists and companies. Local leaders have banded together to share ideas, thoughts and support.
We’ve cleaned. We’ve fixed. We’ve organized, and we’ve planned. And then we’ve planned some more.
We’ve rekindled the passion we feel for the performing arts, vowing never again to take a performance for granted. As the metrics improve and vaccine distribution makes it possible to begin to reopen, we are ready. We bring the knowledge of a difficult year, the love of our community and treasured supporters, and the promise of a bright future — one in which we all sit in a theatre together again.
Rae Geoffrey
