Theaters Shuttered

Posted on by Thor

Local Theaters have been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Wade Hair the owner and artistic director of Breakthrough Theater (419 West Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park FL), announced via Facebook Live that they would not be reopening the theater due to complications brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater has been closed since March 13, 2020 and if they could open, they could only have 10 people per audience since the theater is so small. The theater had been in operation for 11 years. It was a magnificent mom and pop community theater that I loved. Friends and patrons have helped pay the bills up until now but with the Covid-19 case numbers rising, the theater owners just cant see themselves re-opening any time soon. They will have to leave the building by June 30, 2020.

Moonlight Players Theater (735 W Minneola Ave, Clermont, FL) is also closing. The Theaters 26th season closed with the pandemic closing much of the county and suspending all local theatre activity. Due to the timing of the pandemic-related closures, they had to make this bittersweet announcement that they will be vacating the Warehouse Theater home in historic downtown Clermont. They are having a closing sale June 20, 10:30am to 6:30pm. People are invited to fill up a bag or a box starting at $10. Many chairs and furniture pieces available as well. Only 10 people at a time will be allowed in the building, please wear a mask.

The New York Ballet has canceled its 2020 production of Nutcracker.  This will be the first time the company hasn’t presented the classic since the production premiered in 1954. The show is New York City Ballet’s most lucrative production, earning more than $15.3 million in ticket sales. Performed around 47 times each holiday season, The Nutcracker employed more than 150 dancers and musicians from the company, 40 stagehands, and more than 125 students from the School of American Ballet.

Again in NYC, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center canceled Fall performances. New York City has done an amazing job recovering from the huge spike in cases and has begin a phase opening watching the data closely. Here in Florida there has been a huge spike in new cases of Covid-19 over the past week. The number of cases has risen 254% since the state re-opened. Florida reported another 3,822 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday morning, breaking the one-day record of 3,207 set just 24 hours earlier.

The UK Government is going to issue a report on June 22, 2020. Andrew Loyd Webber  saw a preliminary report with government advice which included, musicals might return but without singing to stop the spread of the virus. He went on to say, “We in theater must be positive and use everything we can to demonstrate that we can open. If having done that we fail, at least we tried.”

AMC Movie Theaters announced a plan to re-open on July 15, 2020. AMC  reported that it lost more than $2 billion in the most recent quarter, when the pandemic essentially stopped theater going. Face masks will be required. AMC plans on opening 450 or so of its U.S. theaters on July 15, while all 600 should be open by July 24 in time for Disney’s Live Action Mulan and Warner Brothers’ Tenet. Now I worked on the original animated version of Mulan so I am very curious to see it. The opening of the live action remake was put off due to the pandemic but I can wait until it is available somewhere other than a crowded theater.

Orange County Mayor, Jerry Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer have required residents to wear a mask in public places. Orange County is currently reporting the largest increase in positive cases since the pandemic began. We are seeing a significant rise in positive cases among those 20-40 years of age. We continue to see cases where those infected do not show any symptoms of having the virus. Because of this, we cannot be certain those around us have not been exposed. Each of us, no matter our age or how healthy we may be, must remain diligent in our fight against this pandemic.

Everyone must practice physical distancing and good personal hygiene. We must get tested for COVID-19 if we’re concerned we’ve been exposed.  We must continue to protect one another through simple, selfless actions.

COVID-19 is persists in Orlando. Remind every person in our community that our work to combat this virus is not done. Florida is showing signs of becoming the next epicenter of the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

Valencia East Campus

Posted on by Thor

On November 26th, I left work at 5pm and drove over to  the Valencia East Campus (701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando FL) to see the Valencia Jazz Band Concert

Concert directed by Chris Dolske. Unfortunately the concert didn’t start till 7:30pm so I had several hours to kill. Of course I started sketching.

Two benches away from me a hooded student seemed to be sleeping while sitting up. She then lay down for a sounder sleep. Another student sat closer for a quick cell phone conversation. Students that must be theater majors came out pushing and pulling a costume rack. One girl hopped up on the rack letting herself be pulled by the other student. One costume fell and was run over. They squabbled about whose fault it was playfully and frantically. More students walked by with wigs on Styrofoam heads destined for the green room.

With the sketch almost finished, it started to rain. I put up my red umbrella and kept working. There was another hour till the concert, so I decided this was my sketch for the day and I headed home. On the drive back I listened to a 1936 Carnegie Hall Jazz concert on the radio, so I got my Jazz fix.