Throughout the country, the performing arts have taken a huge hit as their venues have been closed down during the pandemic. This six-part series, inspired by the Reading Musical Foundation, will visit our own performing arts community—theaters, musical organizations, presenters, and educational/performing institutions—to see how they have been coping, and what their plans are for 2021 and beyond.
BCTV is collaborating with local journalists to bring you the stories of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. This media partnership is made possible in part by the support of The Wyomissing Foundation.
Indomitable.
That word sums up the collective spirit of our local theater community as 2020 threw its worst at them: Covid-19 and its shutdowns of venues, shows, and important fundraisers, cutting into their already tight budgets. For two theaters, there were fires and floods (yes, really!).
2020 was a year of shows stopped in mid-run, long weeks of rehearsal for shows that never saw their opening night, sets left like forlorn ghosts onstage, and carefully planned seasons jettisoned as the pandemic continued to attack.
But at no point did the directors of Genesius Theater, Reading Community Players, Reading Civic Theater, Reading Theater Project and the Ephrata Performing Arts Center dream of throwing in the towel. In spite of everything, all of them are focusing on the future and making plans for 2021 and beyond.
“We’re going to come back, and when we come back, it will be with a vengeance,” said Jeanette DeAngelo, president of the board of RCT.
Meanwhile, each organization has created online and/or outdoor productions, large and small, to remind their audiences that they’re still kicking and to share memories of better times.
Reading Community Players
2020 was the 100th anniversary of this company, making it one of the oldest continually running community theaters in the country. According to Debbi Silas, president of the RCP board, this would have been celebrated with a Masquerade Ball in October 2020 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Reading—now rescheduled for Nov. 13 this year.
At the start of last year, RCP presented the classic 1945 British play “An Inspector Calls,” by J.B. Priestley, as planned, and had begun rehearsals for Noel Coward’s comic “Present Laughter,” scheduled for late April, when Covid-19 struck.
Silas said they went ahead with plans for their student show, “Beauty and the Beast Junior,” auditioning virtually. The Miller Center for the Arts was to have been the venue; when it closed indefinitely, this show, too, was canceled. Fortunately, she said, “we still have the rights, since most rights companies are giving theaters some leeway, so we can produce it the following year.”
Meanwhile, they found a show, “Super Happy Awesome News,” written to be performed virtually by kids to show how they are surviving Covid-19. They met over Zoom to choose participants, emailed the cast their scripts and music, and Silas, along with music director Kristen Bender, directed the show. Producer Tara Lutz put together the individual videos, recorded by the actors themselves. The video can still be seen on YouTube.
For this year, once Covid restrictions are lifted, RCP will carry over the two canceled shows from 2020, Silas said.
While Covid presented challenges to the theater, fortunately RCP has few expenses other than insurance and storage, since they sold their building on North 11th Street in Reading in 2015. The theater, which performs at various venues, is a member, along with Genesius, of the Greater Reading Alliance of Community Theaters. The board is currently looking for a permanent building, but for now, Silas said, their situation has become an advantage.
For more information about RCP, to view their virtual performances, or to donate, visit www.readingcommplayers.com. Here is a link for “Super Happy Awesome News”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecEz5OtBhBg.
Genesius Theater
It’s difficult to believe that Genesius, for years “the new kid on the block” in Reading, is 50 years old this year. Its late founder, Jane Simmon Miller (once a leading actor in RCP), inspired a generation of “Genesius kids,” many of whom went on to have successful careers in theater. Others continued to participate in community and regional theater as passionate amateurs.
One of those “kids,” Larry Fecho, chose to stay in Reading, and has continued the Genesius tradition as its artistic director. Fecho who also heads his own company, Fecho Productions, which produces special events for corporate and other clients.
Apart from Genesius, he has also joined forces with Genesius alumnus Michael O’Flaherty, music director for Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut, to write the books for “Genesius: The Musical” and “A Connecticut Christmas Carol,” among others. (O’Flaherty wrote the music and lyrics.) The latter show was premiered at Goodspeed’s Terris Theater in December 2019, starring Broadway’s Robert Cuccioli, ending the year on a high note. Then came 2020.
“In March we were in our second weekend of “Legally Blonde Junior” at Genesius,” Fecho said. “We did two shows, and then we had to close. But fortunately, everyone who had tickets just donated them back to us.”
Like most arts organizations, Genesius navigated the pandemic uncertainty by ear. At first they planned to present “Dog Fight” in April, but had to cancel that production. Fecho, ever the optimist, planned to try for June.
“Then it finally sank into my thick head that this (Covid-19) was going to be more than a few weeks,” he said. He and the board started figuring out how to survive.
But their challenges didn’t stop with Covid. In June, during heavy rains, the Genesius Theater’s roof leaked, and “we went on a campaign to raise money for the roof,” he said. Part of that campaign was an original video on Facebook featuring young actors singing. The campaign raised about $30,000, about three quarters of the cost for the new roof, which they expected to make up with grants and individual donors.
Over the summer, he said, the Reading Liederkranz offered to let Genesius use its outdoor pavilion for their annual three-week theater camp, charging a “reasonable rental.” It was more successful than usual, helping the theater to stay afloat.
But in July, an electrical fire in their building destroyed their electrical system (with no other damage to the theater itself); at the same time, because of more heavy rain, they had to repair the sidewalk in front of the building. All of the repair work is finished except for the roof, which had to wait.
During the summer, Fecho produced two outdoor fundraising concerts at the Liederkranz, featuring Reggie Brown and Bunchafunk and the BelleTones, and in September, he produced an original musical revue, “Genesius Showstoppers,” at Willow Glen Park, owned by Konopelski Catering.
Over the summer, Genesius was able to obtain about 70 percent of the collection in Meyer’s Costume Shoppe in Temple, which was selling its inventory prior to closing for good. Fecho and volunteers spent four full days moving costumes into a space donated by Sweet Street Desserts. They will use the costumes for their own performances and rent them to other companies, paying a percentage to Sheldon Meyers, the shop’s owner.
All the while, Fecho was busily interviewing former “Genesius kids,” including playwright Douglas Carter Beane, Megan Gallagher, O’Flaherty and the late Jean Hackett, as well as current members of the theater community—almost 100 in all, posting a video each day.
In October, Genesius presented three outdoor performances of “The Rocky Horror Show” during Konopelski’s Shocktoberfest, which Fecho called “a big success.”
By December, Fecho said, he was more than ready to bid farewell to 2020—a year in which he also lost his mother and brother to Covid-19.
He said he would like to stream “Showstoppers” and other shows they did, but is waiting for permissions and royalty agreements. He also hopes to go back to outdoor shows in spring, and by fall, to produce shows in the theater again.
“Theater is a live thing,” he said. “I wonder when people will get tired of looking at a screen. But a lot of good has come out of this; through technology we can connect with each other and our audience.
“Genesius has been very alive and doing things the whole time, as safely as possible.”
For information on upcoming shows or to make a donation, visit www.genesiusdifference.org.
Reading Theater Project
Founded in 2003 by Joel Gori (now artistic director emeritus), who is also artistic director of Metamorphosis Performing Company, the Reading Theater Project is a collective of artists in various genres who create and produce both original work and classic plays (often with a twist), and hold play readings and an annual Five-Minute Fringe Festival.
Vicki Haller Graff, the current artistic director, said the last live performance RTP presented was the Fringe Festival, on the theme “Mirror,” held the last weekend in February 2020 at the Yocum Institute for Arts Education.
“After that, we started to try to anticipate what would happen,” Graff said.
They had planned a Jazz Cabaret fundraiser at the Olympian Ballroom in West Reading on April 4, simultaneously with Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest; both events had to be canceled, eliminating a major source of income for RTP.
“We pulled our budget back a bit,” she said, “but since we have no permanent base—we’ve been rehearsing at Christ Church UCC in Temple and we rent performance spaces—we don’t have any huge expenses.”
RTP survives on ticket sales, along with grants, private donors and the annual fundraiser. They do have paid staff, and they pay performers for their larger productions.
As the year went on, Graff and the other core RTP administrators decided not to present live performances for the rest of the year, and instead they have created a number of online works, available on YouTube, Facebook and their website.
Over the summer, they invited independent performers to create pieces to original music composed by RTP music director Chris Heslop. The result was 10 short works under the title “Adaptations: An Online Theater Experience.”
She said they also tried creating a Zoom play reading of Adam Richter’s play “Second Home,” which she admitted is “not the best way to do a play reading.”
In December, they instituted a “Countdown Calendar” to the end of 2020, with participants submitting small performances to run each day “with the goal of sharing levity and joy,” Graf said.
Currently, Graff is hosting a new monthly show on BCTV, “Reading Reading,” in which she interviews a playwright, then has RTP actors read a 10-minute, one-person play. Her first guests were Richter, with actor Kath Godwin reading “Don’t Mind Me.”
In another episode, Gori performs his own play, “Left.”
“So far, because technology is not part of our mission, we decided not to charge for tickets to our online productions,” Graff said. “But we’re managing to keep our budget balanced.”
RTP is planning to hold a virtual Five-Minute Fringe Festival on the theme “Adaptations” in February. Twenty pieces have been chosen for the festival, and each virtual performance will be followed by a Zoom talkback, during which the audience can interact with the performers. The festival will be free of charge, and will remain on YouTube and Facebook for a time.
“We’re taking it one project at a time,” Graff said. “We’ll be doing play readings in the spring, possibly outdoors, and maybe something in the summer. In general, people are coping, and trying to remain creative.”
For information on RTP performances and events, or to make a donation, visit www.readingtheaterproject.org.
Reading Civic Theater
Founded in 1914 as Reading Civic Opera Company, Reading Civic Theater has a long history of presenting musical theater, most recently “Legally Blonde” in December 2019.
In February, RCT held its annual fundraising gala at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Reading, along with its annual scholarship competition for Berks County high school juniors and seniors. And then, as Covid-19 became a growing threat, board president DeAngelo said, “in June we decided to cancel our September show, ‘Guys and Dolls’ (scheduled for the Miller Center).
“One of our major decisions was, we only were allowed a limited number of people in the audience—25 percent,” she said. “So how could we survive? We’d be starting in the red before we opened. You have to pay for royalties, rental, lighting, sets—it didn’t make sense to us.”
As the Miller Center remained closed through the end of the year, RCT also canceled its December show, “Oliver.”
Since the company still has expenses connected with its building on N. 10th St. in Reading, where they hold auditions and rehearsals and store sets and costumes, DeAngelo said they held monthly fundraisers in partnerships with local restaurants, which agreed to donate 15 to 20 percent of profits in exchange for word-of-mouth publicity on designated days.
At the end of August the company held a benefit concert featuring vocal solos from Broadway shows at Alsace Lutheran Church, Reading, following CDC guidelines. In November they held another, similar event, “A Blast From the Past.”
“People loved the concerts, and they brought in a better amount of money than the other fundraisers,” DeAngelo said. “It also brought our members back together. People were so longing to do theater and be with each other and smile again. And it was very, very safe.”
They had planned a third concert for December, but when the Covid-19 surge closed everything down again, they decided to try a virtual concert; the result is still available on YouTube. They may try another virtual concert in February. Viewers are not charged, but donations are accepted.
The annual February Gala, for which scholarship auditions were held virtually in October, has been postponed until Feb. 19, 2022 at the DoubleTree. The seven finalists chosen this year will be invited to come back and participate without an audition, DeAngelo said, and seniors graduating this spring will be allowed to come back and audition this fall for the 2022 contest.
As for this year’s shows, RCT is waiting to see what happens before planning any live performances.
“We’ve all lost a lot,” DeAngelo said. “It’s a year we’ll never get back again.”
For more information and to donate, visit www.readingcivic.org. To view RCT’s Christmas concert, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpI0N1QHKg.
Ephrata Performing Arts Center
Like Genesius, EPAC’s 2020 troubles didn’t stop with Covid-19, which shut down the theater in March just as it was about to present “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”
“We were in tech rehearsals when we got the call that Gov. Wolf was closing theaters throughout the state.” said EPAC’s artistic director, Edward R. Fernandez. “We had to tell the cast, and we left the theater with the sets standing and the props onstage.”
Then, after canceling the entire season, in June the theater was flooded when one of the sprinklers malfunctioned, causing significant damage to the roof, the backstage area and the dressing rooms in the basement. (All the damage was repaired over the summer.)
On Nov. 24, a fire that was later determined to be arson damaged the box-office area, but thanks to the quick response of local fire companies, the rest of the theater remained intact, Fernandez said. The case is still under investigation.
In spite of everything, he said, “we’re miraculously okay, thanks to our generous donors and our board of directors, who have worked like it’s a second job. It’s incredible what these people did. We’ve been really lucky.”
EPAC has received financial help through a small-business loan, grants from the Borough of Ephrata for video production, and fundraising through an online auction. The company also did “extremely well” in the Lancaster County Community Foundation’s annual Extraordinary Give online donation event in November.
Since the shutdown, Fernandez said, EPAC produced an online concert by some of its longtime members, and another by teens, with the help of one of its actors, Jordon Ross Weinhold, who is a professional videographer and marketer.
Fernandez hosted a talk show, “Quarantine Chats,” interviewing members of the theater community.
And then, he said, they began to get serious about video production.
“We wanted to do something different at Christmas, so we wrote a half-hour show, ‘Santa’s Surprise Party,’” he said. “We hired a local video company, PatchTown Films, and we filmed it in one day, in the theater, with a set and costumes.”
The original show, produced under the logo “EPAC at Home,” streamed through December 31.
EPAC’s 2021 season will begin with three virtual shows: “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” starring Yolanda Dwyer as Billie Holiday (Feb. 26 through March 14); “The Curious Incident” with the same cast as the 2020 production that was canceled (April 16 through May 1); and the musical “Something’s Rotten” (May 6 through 22).
Fernandez hopes that the rest of the season can be live: “The Boys in the Band” (June 17 through 26); “Matilda: The Musical” (July 22 through Aug. 7); Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” (Sept. 2 through 11); “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” (Oct. 7 through 23); and “Les Miserables: School Edition” (Dec. 3 through 31). All of the shows except “Something’s Rotten” were originally scheduled for 2020.
“Going forward, we’re going to be streaming all our shows, even when they’re performed live,” Fernandez said.
For more information on upcoming shows, and to donate, visit www.ephrataperformingartscenter.com. To hear EPAC’s online teen concert, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u32fBi15J9Y&t=1128s.
