onstagepittsburgh.com: First there was light, and there was none. And then there was light again. And then none. And then it was light again. By that time, unfortunately, City Theatre had zapped enough electric power that it was impossible for the opening night of Eureka Day to go on.
Managing Director James McNeel and Artistic Director Clare Drobot announced to the crowded lobby that a show would be added Tuesday, and ticket-holders would receive emails about that and other options.
4 comments:
What stood out most in the article was a clear sense of community in Pittsburgh’s theatre scene. Even though the opening couldn’t happen, audience members stayed to support the cast and creative team. That response shows something special about live theatre: it is not only about the performance itself, but also about the collective experience. Half of what appeals to me about going to the theatre is being around other people who I will be in community with for the next few hours, and I suppose that even though they didn’t see a show, they still got that experience.
While I imagine the cancellation must have been frustrating, the decision to reschedule and method of communicating, shows respect for the audience’s time and money – which is something most people are increasingly less willing to give to live theatre; and respect for the artists whose work would not have been showcased if the show were to go on. I would have been interested to see what the behind the scenes (no pun intended) conversation looked like when it came to making this decision.
I mean I think this is a really incredible example of how theater acts just as much as a community as it does as an art. I think due to the extremely collaborative nature of theater it is so important to find Community Within what we do and to find support when things go wrong. I also think this is a really great example of the world doesn't end if your show doesn't happen. and I know this sounds crazy, I'm literally going to school to figure out how to put on shows, but I think something that can very easily be lost is that we're making art. There are going to be things that go wrong and that's okay. We can try our very best to avoid those things but in the end things happen and that's okay. We need to give ourselves more grace and acceptance for when things go wrong because holding unrealistic expectations for ourselves and our art does nobody any good.
I remember that day with the wind that felt like it had the power to blow me away. A lot of the first-year dorms were also affected by that power outage. I feel so sorry for the opening night of Eureka Day at City Theater. Glad they figured everything out quickly and assisted their audience super well. I remember I encountered the snowstorm last time when I was supposed to go to the Benedum to see Wicked. I was so excited for that night, a week before that, until I heard the news of an extreme snowstorm and the cancellation of classes on Monday. It took the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust some time to figure out the new plan for audiences who were supposed to see the show that day. It was super hard for me to find another weekend show that had two seats together. But luckily, we got a seat that was even nicer than the ones we had, and I love the whole Wicked experience. I hope the extreme and quickly changing weather will get calmer and more stable in Pittsburgh in the future years, so people can enjoy this city better.
It’s unfortunate to hear that the power outage impacted ongoing theatrical performances. (I personally was hit by the power outage, but we got away pretty scot-free—I live close enough to campus that electricity was still pretty accessible even at first, and it turned out that we just had partial power for a few days—most of our outlets didn’t work and some lights wouldn’t come on, but our fridge (THANK GOD) and oven worked. We didn’t have hot water, though, which made showering pretty miserable.) But it’s great to see that the Pittsburgh theatre community showed up for one another in this difficult moment. One story from my high school technical theatre teacher that really stuck with me for some reason was a show where the power went out an hour before the performance, and the crew improvised by creating a fast plan to light the entire show purely with battery-powered flashlights. So while it sucks that power outages and other unforseen circumstances can cut shows short, it’s also awesome to see the community and creativity that can come out in these moments.
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