“Save Our Stages Act” Leaves Community Theatres Out In The Cold
Aberdeen Community Theatre
There is little evidence needed to prove how devastating COVID-19 and its resulting shutdowns have been to the theatre industry. Beyond Broadway, many regional theatres have had to shut their operations down for the foreseeable future.
But help is on the way for some of those theatre institutions. The Save Our Stages Act, which was included in the recent $900 billion stimulus bill provides around $15 billion in relief to independent music venues, movie theaters, and similar cultural institutions(which includes theatres) that have been almost entirely shuttered since March.
The bill’s final text allows those listed above to apply for grants to cover six months of payroll and costs including rent, utilities, and maintenance. Grants will be capped at $10 million; publicly traded companies and other large businesses are not eligible.
While this bill certainly provides relief to commercial theatre venues, it excludes community theatres that desperately need aid as well. Without eligibility in future legislation, tens of thousands of these stages will remain dark for good.
The bill is very specific as to who qualifies to receive aid. Eligibility requirements include: The business entity must have been “fully operational” on Feb. 29, 2020; the business entity must be able to demonstrate 25 percent gross earned revenue loss in any one calendar quarter of 2020 compared with the same calendar quarter of 2019, and the business entity must be operating or intending to resume operations in the future.
Another factor is the stipulation that in order to receive aid, “a paid ticket or cover charge to attend most performances and artists are paid fairly and do not play for free or solely for tips.” There is where the problem lies for community theatres.
As we all know, most community theatres do not pay their staff or performers. These are mostly non-profit organizations, full of people volunteering their time on stage and behind it to produce these shows. But that doesn’t mean that their expenses aren’t minuscule either. Rents still have to be paid and lights still need to be put on.
Some states have been able to provide small grants to these theatre organizations but many more have not. I spoke to one theatre president in North Carolina who told me they received a $500 grant but the regional theatre nearby got roughly five figures in aid.
“Our options are running out,” she told me. “I just don’t know how we’re going to be able to reopen when it’s safe enough to reopen.”
In Maine, after the Pittsfield Community Theatre closed its doors in March due to COVID-19, the town council later decided to keep it closed and sell the building. They stated social-distancing standards and restrictions limiting groups to 50 people would hinder the theater’s ability to generate adequate revenue.
A quick Google search will provide plenty of more stories similar to this one.
But many community theatre leaders are trying to get the language changed in future legislation to include community theatres. I spoke with Lou Ursone who is the Executive Director of Curtain Call in Stamford, CT. Mr. Ursone told me that he’s been reaching out to every CT politician to try to get them to include theatres like his.
“I’ve spoken to some staff members who told me they will pass my concerns up the chain, but they were primarily helping professionals,” he told me. “They said maybe with the new administration there will be more support down the road. I said by then, thousands of theatres may have already gone dark permanently.”
Personally, I hope that doesn’t happen. I don’t see a problem with creating language in upcoming legislation that includes community theatre organizations. These theatres don’t need multi-million dollar grants, many of them would be able to survive with tens of thousands of dollars.
Broadway will return, we all know this. But not everyone is able to get there to see these shows, nor are they able to afford them. For many communities, the local theatre groups are the only places this material is performed. Given the amount raised from rights acquisitions, I should hope a great many writers and composers would want these doors to stay open as well.
You’ll hardly find a theatre professional that didn’t get their start in their local community theatre. I know I did. It’s vitally important to the future of this industry that these organizations continue to operate because they’re the ones directly cultivating the next generation. I hope our representatives in Washington and various statehouses are listening.