Submitted
Six months ago Battlefords Community Players cancelled the remainder of their 2019-2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic and like so many other groups and businesses, we closed the doors. We were devastated. We had no income but continued to have expenses to be covered. Overall, our financial situation made the future of the club look pretty bleak. We didn鈥檛 quality for any of the programs announced by the Government. Even though we have monthly expenses to operate, we just didn鈥檛 fit because we don鈥檛 have staff, we are truly a non-profit charitable organization, operated solely with volunteers.
However, in June, as things started to lift a little, we got our creative juices flowing and started thinking about what could be done. How could we make it work? How could we do live theatre and keep everyone safe? We could have a limited number of people, the weather was good and we have a nice piece of grass at the back of the building. So, outdoor theatre was created with a production of 鈥淗amlette.鈥� Our club has some very talented actors and musicians to provide us with some much needed entertainment. The grass was cut, the circles were drawn, the mosquito鈥檚 sprayed and the show began鈥� We were not sure if anyone would attend. Well they did and they enjoyed the show.
Watch for summer theatre in the years to come.
Next was how to do a safe live theatre season. We now could have a maximum of 30 people including our volunteers in our building provided we social distanced, used sanitizers and face masks when social distancing wasn鈥檛 possible. We borrowed tables of various sizes so we could safely keep patrons in their bubble and we revamped our cancelled show for our patrons who had waited six months to see it. They came, they enjoyed and it was safe.
So we moved forward to mount a new season for 2020-2021 with four different shows, including three comedies and one yet to be named. The first production kicks off in three weeks, with the very funny show 鈥淭he Outsider鈥� and it just happens to be about a politician, at a time when we have three elections going on, municipal, provincial and American. Tickets for our first three nights of dinner theatre have gone so fast we are adding one more show only (a Sunday matinee) and two more dinner theatres performances to ensure we can accommodate our patrons.
Battlefords Community Players board of directors and all our volunteers would like to thank our patrons for purchasing season packages, everyone who made donations and all those that continue to be there for us in so many ways.
Our goal is to provide safe enjoyable live theatre in our tiny little theatre. Think about joining us as we begin our 68th year of KEEPING THEATRE LIVE in the Battlefords. Information is available on our website by email at [email protected] or by calling 306-446-3133.
See you at the Theatre.
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