Maine State Music Theatre cancels season; performing groups adapt to new normal
Courtesy / MSMT
Maine State Music Theatre, whose 2019 production of Hello, Dolly!" is shown here, has canceled its 2020 summer season because of the pandemic.
Maine State Music Theatre is now part of a growing chorus of performing arts organizations that have canceled their 2020 seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Brunswick drama company, one of Maine’s few professional theater groups, said on Tuesday it will not hold summer performances — the first season cancellation in MSMT’s 62-year history.
“There is simply no path to safely execute all that needs to transpire while protecting our patrons, employees and the community,” wrote MSMT Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark on the company’s website. “We feel that given the unknown and potentially disastrous possibilities in front of us we have an ethical obligation to protect the community.”
Maine State Music Theatre had planned to stage four shows over the coming months at Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus. The summer season accounts for nearly 80% of MSMT’s annual revenue, Clark said. The nonprofit employs over 240 each year, primarily during the summer.
Earlier this month, MSMT and a professional drama company in Lewiston, The Public Theatre, canceled a joint production due to concerns about the public health crisis.
The Public Theatre has also canceled most of its other upcoming productions because of concerns about coronavirus infection. In addition, Portland Stage Co. has canceled performances through April 30, and Ogunquit Playhouse has postponed the opening of its summer season to an unspecified date.
The pandemic is bringing the curtain down on other performing arts groups, too.
Opera Maine, the state’s only professional opera company, last week said it will postpone two productions planned for the summer until 2021. “The Flying Dutchman” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” had both been scheduled for July in Portland.
“Although we had held out hope that we would all be able to come together this summer, we now realize that it would not be in the best interest of public safety,” said Dona D. Vaughn, artistic director, and Executive Director Caroline Koelker in a joint statement.
Symphony orchestras in Portland and Bangor have both canceled concerts through May. Two dance troupes, Portland Ballet and Falmouth-based Maine State Ballet, have postponed performances. And there are countless smaller groups that have also rescheduled or called off their productions.
While the coronavirus crisis has affected all types of artistic and cultural organizations across Maine, performing groups face a unique business challenge as a result of the pandemic. Their lifeblood is expressly forbidden by public health restrictions: large gatherings of people.
In addition, the organizations, many of which are nonprofit, are locked into contracts with performers, suppliers and venues for specific dates — in Maine, often during the summer. Professional theater companies, for example, have limited flexibility because of agreements with the Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union.
Maine State Music Theatre and other nonprofit performing arts groups across the state have resorted to desperate measures.
Instead of simply refunding costs of tickets already purchased, some groups are asking patrons to consider what they paid as charitable contributions. And to maintain their connection to audiences, while tiding them over until productions can resume, companies are also serving up recorded and live-streamed performances on websites and social media channels.
For example, Opera Maine recently launched a virtual program called Opera in ME, a weekly web series that takes audiences behind the scenes through interviews with singers and designers.
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