It has been an interesting 2021 year for non-profit live theater companies across the country. Survivability was the prime goal. Thinking out of the box was a secondary goal.
When Broadway cancelled due to covid numbers, HMTC followed suit along with other theater companies. HMTC canceled acting classes and postponed shows. In this idle position HMTC explored producing a podcast show with phone call-ins, a cyber monologue slam, and a puppet show was filmed instead of having a live audience.
When Broadway opened to fuller capacity on September 14 with safety measures, so did HMTC. We managed to produce a new play. We used a QR code for the audience to read the play program online. Kid’s and adult acting classes also commenced. Rehearsals for a staged reading also started up after a 16-month delay of its original staged reading performance.
Now a new coronavirus called Omicron is infecting people in all fifty states. Broadway put a pause on their shows. Hanford Multicultural Theater Company is reevaluating the situation again. We are already on vacation, but if we must, we will pause again. It is getting to be a habit.
We are hopeful and we will state we anticipates that 2022 will allow us to do our complete programing. We intend on rehearsals for THE MUSSEL SLOUGH CHRONICLES – A CALIFORNIA TRAGEDY with TBA for the performance. At that event we will invite the audience to do a talk-back to further tighten the new script. There is also a puppet show in the making about the American Korean pilots that formed in Willows, California. For Woman’s Month, Pamela Sterling will star in Louisa May Alcott – Power of a Woman.
It may be that 2022 will also challenge non-profit live theater companies. HMTC is prepared to meet those challenges. We must. There are people who thrive on our classes
Silvia Gonzalez Scherer, Executive Artistic Director
Hanford Multicultural Theater Company
