When the Williamston Theatre shut down last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Williamston Theatre Co-Founder and Executive Director Emily Sutton-Smith had no idea it would stay closed for over a year.
“We thought, ‘Oh, well, we’ll be closed for two or three weeks, and then we’ll open back up again because everything will be fine,’” Sutton-Smith said. “But, obviously that’s not what happened.”
The theater remained closed far longer than most establishments that shut down in the midst of the pandemic due to the strict Actors Equity Association rules and regulations that would have required at least 10 feet between the audience members and the actors, making the prospect of putting on a production extremely difficult.
“Rather than trying to open, not knowing how the rules would change and figuring that we might have to shut down again, we just waited until we thought we would be able to have the protocol in place,” said Williamston Theatre Executive Director John Lepard.
The pandemic resulted in the four-month layoff of theater staff. It was only through a payroll protection loan that the theater was able to build back a skeleton crew, and through a shutter grant and patron donations that the theater was even able to survive the pandemic.
Reopening after the shutdown
The theater will be reopening on Nov. 18 with an old favorite: “This Wonderful Life.”
“This Wonderful Life” is a one-man-show retelling of the Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It will feature Lepard as George Bailey, Mr. Potter and as every other character in Bedford Falls as he recounts the heartwarming and classic holiday story with the audience.
“For me, it’s great to get back on stage,” said Lepard. “For our company, it’s wonderful to be producing actual theater again. Even though we have all of these precautions and backstage protocol that we have to follow, being able to produce it and get back what we love to do is the best thing.”
Tickets for “This Wonderful Life” will go on sale Tuesday, Oct. 26, and the show will run from Nov. 18 to Dec. 19.
COVID-19 safety procedures in the theater
Williamston Theatre Artistic Director Tony Caselli said the theater is following the same rules as Broadway and other theater organizations across the country.
Madison Rose
Williamston Theatre is enacting many safety measures to ensure the health of its actors, staff and patrons throughout the reopening.All audience members will be asked to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 (with 14 days passed since the last dose) or proof of a negative COVID test. Proof of vaccination or test status will be checked at the door of the theater. Patrons can either submit their vaccination cards or test status through the BINDLE app or can show it to staff along with a photo ID at the door.
Regardless of vaccination status, all audience members will be required to wear masks while inside the venue.
Williamston Theatre asks that anyone who is showing COVID-19 symptoms stay home and contact the box office to release their seats. The theater has offered to rebook original tickets to a date when the patron feels better.
“With luck, sometime during this season the COVID numbers will go down and we’ll be getting better and we’ll be able to relax those,” Caselli said. “Until then, we just can’t. We have to keep employees, audiences, administrators, actors and artists — everyone has to be kept safe.”
Upcoming shows and the future of the theater
Sutton-Smith is starring in “Tracy Jones,” a play about a single woman who sets out to meet people who share her name. “Tracy Jones” is set to open next May.
“It’s about finding connection with people who you didn’t expect to connect with, and that you have to be open to relationships in unexpected ways,” Sutton-Smith. “It’s a great story about how we need each other, and after this last 18 months, nothing could be more true.”
As the artistic director, Caselli said part of his job is to produce the shows. He will also direct
“This Wonderful Life” and “Tracy Jones.”
Caselli said he is looking forward to seeing all the theater patrons again when it reopens next month.
“We had been here for 14 years and have developed just a huge family of people,” Caselli said. “(We) had all these wonderful relationships with our community of patrons and it’s been hard to see none of them for a year and a half. So I can’t wait to really dig in and get into rehearsals.”