COVID-19 Coronavirus
January 2021
Greetings ACT Patrons and Volunteers,
As the 2021 year starts, we wanted to make sure we were keeping you up to date with our organization. We continue to be temporarily in a pending mode with the suspension of our performances for upcoming shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to take a moment to update everyone on where things stand with our theater.
We continue to monitor the guidance and guidelines set forth by our state government. Linn and Benton Counties currently have an Extreme Risk designation according to the state and we are not able to open. When this status improves to a Lower Risk level, some larger groups of people will be allowed to meet in a variety of ways, but it still is limiting for live theatre productions. We still are not aware of when large gatherings in theaters will be permitted without social distancing. The state has said this will not happen until a vaccine or other proven treatments are widely available. At this time, ACT is still not planning to have any productions in our auditorium until August 2021, with our youth camp, at the earliest. This date could change as the situation develops. What does that mean for our previously scheduled shows? It means:
- Fly Babies, 9 to 5 the Musical, and Dracula are still postponed indefinitely, but it is our intention to produce them as soon as we can safely and legally. These shows have casts and crews that look forward to the time that they can perform these shows for you.
- Frozen Jr., our annual youth camp, is tentatively scheduled August 2021.
- Normally we would start a new season of shows in September. Any new show selections will be delayed until we have a better sense of when we can open again.
- Big Night, our annual volunteer party, will be held in a Zoom capacity as “A Year in Review.” Date is TBA. No awards will be distributed this year. However, you do not want to miss this celebration and tribute to our volunteers.
- March 2021 – We are continuing our free radio shows with an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s mystery The Secret of Chimneys. What is The Secret of Chimneys? A young drifter finds out when a favor for a friend pulls him into the heart of a deadly conspiracy in this captivating classic. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has place him in serious danger. Date in March and link TBA.
- REMINDER: All of our radio shows can be listened to anytime. They are located on our web page: http://www.albanycivic.org
While we are all disappointed that we cannot produce our shows right now, we are taking advantage of the downtime to improve many of the backstage areas of our theater that have always been too full of people, items, and activities for us to work on them previously. This project is near completion and we look forward to being able to have an open house once allowed. We are sprucing up our dressing rooms and makeup room and repurposing other spaces to better meet our production needs. We are also applying for available grants to help offset our overhead costs while we are closed. Finally, we are developing increased cleaning and sanitation protocols so that when we can open, we will have appropriate measures in place.
We look forward to seeing you again at our shows once we can resume producing them. In the meantime, watch for our special events online. Thank you for your understanding and support.
Sincerely,
Albany Civic Theater Board of Directors