When will the curtain again rise at New Stage Theatre?
Managing Director Dawn Buck said it’s too early to tell.
In fact, the only thing that is certain for the theater right now is uncertainty.
“A lot of theaters are not opening until 2021,” she said. “I hope that’s not the case for us. I hope we can do something this fall, but it’s too early to tell.”
Officials with New Stage have been having weekly discussions with its reopening task force, as well as board members and national theater groups.
Even with those discussions, questions remain on almost every front.
Among them, officials are unsure when they can again schedule plays and hire actors. The Actor’s Equity Association, a union that manages 51,000 actors across the country directed members not to accept contracts until after Labor Day.
The group has further stated that it will not allow actors to work at theaters until they meet union safety requirements.
At the same time, New Stage officials don’t know how social distancing will impact ticket sales, or whether they can sell enough tickets to cover performance costs.
Buck said the 2020-21 season likely will have fewer shows with smaller casts, in part, to cut costs and to reduce the chance of spreading the virus among actors.
On top of those challenges, the theater is having to make up for revenue losses associated with the cancellation of the second half of the 2019-20 season, the postponement of its major spring fundraiser, and the scaling back of its summer camp.
The theater closed in mid-March, about halfway through “Pipeline,” a play that highlights the state of the American education system.
“We had six showings. We were slated to have 13, and a school matinee too,” Buck said. “All of that’s pretty much lost revenue for us.”
The theater has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket sales and concession revenue, as well as funds that would have been brought in from “A Toast to Broadway,” New Stage’s annual spring fund-raiser.
Other performances canceled this spring included “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” and “Ragtime.”
Ragtime, the end-of-the season musical, was slated to generate about $115,000 for New Stage.
Buck estimated that as much as $70,000 of that would have come through single ticket sales. The rest would have come from prior subscription sales.
Single ticket purchases generate about $400,000 for the theater each year, while subscriptions, or season tickets, generate about $250,000, or roughly a fifth of New Stage’s $1.3 million budget.
Currently, the theater is offering season ticket holders a refund on the final three shows, or a credit for next season.
Patrons are also being given the option of donating the ticket purchases to the theater, something that Buck is hoping patrons would be willing to do.
“It really would save jobs and help New Stage stay open if we didn’t have to give refunds,” she said.
An additional hit will come this summer, thanks to the scaling back of its summer camp program. The program, which generally takes in about $55,000 a year in tuition, brings in hundreds of students.
Those funds help New Stage through the slower summer months, when performances are not scheduled.
This year, fewer students are expected to attend, because the camp will be online.
To help make up for those losses, the theater has applied for and received money through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. New Stage also has received grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Grant monies and PPP funds have been used to cover employee pay, utilities and the like.
“A lot of people think New Stage has been dormant, and we haven’t,” she said. “Our costume designer has been making hundreds of masks for staff, staff family and people that request them. We did 60 masks and put them in goody bags for shifts at UMMC. Several of us worked on that.”
The theater has also taken time to make facility improvements, something it was unable to do during its busy rehearsal and production schedules.
New Stage received a building enhancement grant from the state art commission in March 2018. Only recently has the theater had the opportunity to ramp up facility improvement efforts.
“We re-did the floors in the green room and dressing room. We had the floors buffed and polished in the Hughes Room, which is where people go for concessions,” she said. “We’re taking this time to do the things we don’t have time to do.
“It’s also a way to keep the staff busy and engaged while we make plans to reopen.”
Reopening will be the challenging part.
With Broadway shut down, New Stage can’t book union actors. And with the actors’ union still determining safety requirements for members, it is unclear exactly what kind of plays New Stage would be able to put on.
The theater typically begins setting its schedule in April and begins selling season tickets. By June, money from the season tickets is used to secure the rights for the plays, Buck explained.
Not only is New Stage unsure of its season lineup, it’s also unsure how many seats it will be able to sell tickets for.
Right now, theaters, playhouses and movie theaters can open up at 50 percent capacity, under Gov. Tate Reeves’ current executive order.
It was not known when those restrictions would be lifted, or if new restrictions would be put in place if another coronavirus outbreak occurs.
Meanwhile, the Actors’ Equity union will be requiring theaters to meet several requirements before they can hire actors.
Protocols had not been fully fleshed out a press time. However, they could impact everything from how many people could be on stage at once to how often set pieces have to be sanitized.
New Stage typically puts on eight plays a year and brings in union actors for many of them. The theater also uses local performers.
Said Buck, “We don’t know how all of that is going to affect New Stage. It could impact everything from picking up actors at the airport to the housing we provide.”
