By Matthew Murphy, provided by the Bass Performance Hall.
Stephen Christopher Anthony as Evan Hansen in "Dear Evan Hansen."
As Broadway prepares for its big comeback in September, theaters around Fort Worth are also getting ready to return to the stage.
Bass Performance Hall, Stage West, and Casa Mañana have a full slate of productions for the upcoming season.
As announced on May 10, Bass Hall is gearing up for a six-show series starting in October. Navigating the royalties, trucking regulations, and all else concerning the touring shows that were postponed last season has proven to be a complicated puzzle, but that hasn’t stopped the theater. Bass Hall is preparing to bring back many of the titles that were originally scheduled prior to COVID-19 alongside a new hit show straight from Broadway. Ticket information is available at basshall.com.
“We wanted to try to bring people a lot of the shows that they had lost last year,” Performing Arts Fort Worth president and CEO Dione Kennedy says. “We’re thrilled about not only being able to bring tours back to the hall but open with all of our resident companies again.”
As excited as the artistic staff may be to bring back live audiences, patrons are showing support for the new season through strong renewal rates and overwhelming requests for new season ticket subscriptions, according to Bass Hall.
But Bass Hall isn’t the only place patrons will have an opportunity to enjoy a live production this year.
As Stage West rounds the corner on what will be its 43rd season, the artistic staff has curated a series featuring three shows planned pre-pandemic as well as four plays from their wish list. Adding to the excitement, “JQA,” “Scrooge in Rouge,” “Church & State,” “On the Exhale,” “Witch,” and ‘Into the Breeches!” will be making their regional premieres. For more information on tickets, visit stagewest.org.
On top of its productions, Stage West is placing the finishing touches on renovations that it hopes will enhance the public’s experience and offer more performance space for artists. A few of the projects in the works were a flexible black box theater that is now named the Evelyn Wheeler Swenson Theater and an expanded, full-service kitchen.
Fundraising for these updates started about five years ago, though the actual renovations did not begin until December 2019. The plan was to progress concurrently with programming, yet the pandemic proved to have a silver lining when it allowed Stage West to expedite what otherwise would have taken well into 2024.
Stage West has been able to integrate public health parameters through these renovations, such as a touchless front door and an overhaul of its HVAC system.
“We’re not exactly sure where things are going to be months from now or how many of those things will be considered essential, but we want to have them in place for a sense of comfort,” Stage West executive producer Dana Schultes says. “We don’t want people to be thinking about the pandemic. We want them to enjoy the programming.”
COVID-19 seems to have permanently impacted live theater. To best accommodate its patrons, Stage West plans to continue to stream its shows to give them an option that makes them feel most comfortable.
Alongside Stage West and Bass Hall, Casa Mañana is eager to finally stage shows that were postponed because of the pandemic.
After announcing that those wishing to see Broadway-style shows would have to wait until summer, the theater is kicking off the long-awaited 2021 – 2022 season with “Smokey Joe’s Café” in October. Additional information on Casa Mañana’s upcoming season can be found at casamanana.org.
Main stage productions may have been on hiatus over the last year a half, but Casa Mañana hasn’t stayed silent.
“We knew we couldn’t do the big Broadway shows because of the size of the cast, so we expanded our cabaret series,” executive producer Wally Jones says. “People appreciated the opportunity to go out and see live performances in a safe environment.”
The theater’s typical cabaret space was too small to accommodate social distancing, but Casa Mañana maneuvered this by putting tables and chairs on its main stage to welcome about 90 people into the theater and maintain a live season.
Casa Mañana is producing one touring show this season — “The Choir of Man,” but most are rehearsed and staged on-site over a two-week period. It’s a quick process that the theater hasn’t had any problems with until last year. Moving forward, however, Casa Mañana expects everything to appear as it did pre-pandemic, including the rehearsal process and capacity restrictions.
Performing Arts Fort Worth (the nonprofit owner and operator of Bass Performance Hall), Stage West, and Casa Manana are still considering the best practices to implement when patrons reenter the theater while abiding by local governance and CDC guidance.
“I think COVID-19 has all made us take a second look and reevaluate why we’re here,” Jones says. “We’re very lucky to work in a theater and provide entertainment for such a great community. I think we’re all looking at what we do in a very different kind of light now.”
