WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — For the first time since March, the Community Theatre League in Williamsport will once again showcase plays. Officials at the theater say it's been a tough few months during the pandemic.
"It's been awful. I mean, on top of being segregated from all of our families individually as we are isolating, we are also away from our friends and our theater family here," said theater executive director Seth Sponhouse.
"We're kind of walking into the unknown here. We are, as far as I know, one of the first theaters here in Pennsylvania to kind of come back and be working to reopen and to keep everybody safe, both our actors and audiences," said theater general manager Philip Vonada.
State COVID-19 guidelines will allow the theater to perform the play "Brighton Beach Memoirs" under some new capacity restrictions.
"With the new state mandates, we're only allowed 20 percent of our capacity, so that includes the actors on the stage and the staff backstage, so for this run, we are looking at an audience of 40 people per show," said Sponhouse.
The theater also has some safety measures put in place for days that there are shows.
"Temperatures will be taken as audiences are coming through the door. There will be no cast meet and greet, which is a tradition here, so we are asking the audience, once the show is done, to head back to their cars," said Sponhouse.
"Everybody who enters the theater must also wear a mask, and that includes the performers. They will be wearing special clear masks.
The Community Theatre League will be performing its first weekend of shows from November 6 through November 8.
