Shakespeare Theatre Company announced yesterday that it will cancel its limited in-person production of Blindness in light of an increase in the number of DC coronavirus cases. The increase had caused DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to announce further restrictions on her revised Phase Two ReOpen DC plan which goes into effect November 25.
“The health and safety of our patrons, staff, and artists remain of the utmost importance,” Shakespeare Executive Director Chris Jennings said. “when the time and conditions are right, we look forward to sharing this timely immersive experience with everyone.”
The Shakespeare announcement came on the heels of an announcement by The Kennedy Center that it would cancel all scheduled performances, including those of the Washington National Opera, until April 25, 2021. The Kennedy Center also announced that it would postpone its Kennedy Center Awards Ceremony until next Spring.
This morning, GALA Hispanic Theatre spokesperson Dubraska Vale informed DCTS that the company would be rescheduling its performance of Aliens, Immigrants and Other Evil Doers, currently set for December, until some as-yet undetermined date in 2021. GALA will also cancel its scheduled live Flamenco Festival, although the company may still broadcast it remotely.
As Covid-19 is also getting worse in Baltimore, that city’s Everyman Theatre has announced that it is cancelling live performances of Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains. “We’re still optimistic that we’ll be able to open to the public again after the New Year and celebrate our 30th anniversary in-person,” said Everyman Managing Director Marissa LaRose.
Finally, although Ford’s Theatre does not have any live theater productions scheduled, the company has announced that the entire site has closed to the public, beginning November 23. The closure includes Ford’s basement museum.
Although these companies are cancelling in-person performances, they will be offering a robust array of remote shows. Everyman will be making the entire Queens Girl trilogy, including Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains, Queens Girl in the World and Queens Girl in Africa available remotely. Single tickets will become available on November 30.
Ford’s will be offering virtual play readings on December 10, a virtual version of its monthly “Cabinet Conversations” on December 10 and an audio production of A Christmas Carol featuring Craig Wallace on several dates in December.
Shakespeare Theatre anticipates announcing performance dates for Patrick Page’s one-actor show, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain.
And The Kennedy Center will be making its Digital Stage+ program available for free to donors, members and subscribers. That program will carry remote productions of performance by Robert Glasper Acoustic Trio with DJ Jahi Sundance (available beginning December 4), WNO Marian Anderson Award winner Will Liverman in recital, and Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams’ A Time to Sing, as well as musical moments from: Fidelio, Boris Godunov, Così fan tutte, Rigoletto, Nixon in China, and La bohème, highlights from past Kennedy Center Honors ceremonies, six new productions from the Theatre for Young Audiences series, and performances from the National Symphony Orchestra, including a special holiday performance. Some of the Washington National Opera productions and NSO performances may be available to the general public on a per-ticket basis.
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