American Players Theatre Returns to Post-Pandemic Stage

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Photo via American Players Theatre

The words of Shakespeare and other playwrights will once again ring through the trees this summer as American Players Theatre returns to the stage after COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the entire 2020 season. But play selections will be limited this year and pandemic protocols will be strictly enforced as officials look forward to the Spring Green troupe’s cautious return to the boards.

“It was devastating to cancel our 2020 season,” says APT artistic director Brenda DeVita. “But we’re so thankful the world is moving in the right direction, and we just could not be more excited to be planning this season.”

Changes in logistics are as noteworthy as the season itself, which opens in May with six initial productions, one of them a world premiere, in both the open-air Hill Theatre and the Touchstone, APT’s intimate indoor black box. An Improbable Fiction, penned by APT company member James DeVita, chronicles the gathering of some of Shakespeare’s favorite characters now out of work due to a plague ravaging the countryside. Opening in Hill Theater on May 27, the play enjoyed a successful online reading this past holiday season. Public response was so favorable that the company decided to mount a fully staged production of the work.

MLK’s Last Night

Before that, however, The Touchstone will host Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, which imagines the last night in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prior to his assassination by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. Hall sought to humanize Dr. King, who crosses paths with a mysterious maid at the Lorraine Motel in her production, which opens indoors on May 14. The Mountaintop runs through June 19 and An Improbable Fiction through June 26.

Both theaters will be limited to 25 percent capacity due to COVID-19 protocols, meaning ticket demand will likely outweigh supply, which is limited to 250 socially distanced seats per performance in the Hill Theater and 30 seats in the Touchstone. Sales for the first two productions will begin April 16 for donors and patrons and April 26 for the general public. Season tickets are not available.

In addition, masks are required for audience members at all times while on the grounds, except when eating or drinking. The traditional picnic tables will be reduced in number and socially distanced from each other. With the exception of water in the Hill Theatre, food and drink will not be allowed in either auditorium.

APT staff also will be masked and maintain social distancing wherever possible, Brenda DeVita says. However, for performance purposes the actors will not be masked, nor be as accessible as they have been in the past. “There won’t be any in-person interactions between the audience and the actors this year,” she explains. “The talkbacks and events will all be completely online. And the actors will be in pods while in rehearsal, and while the production is on stage, and potentially be away from their families for weeks on end.”

The first few rows in the theaters also will be empty to create more distance between the audience and the stage. The ventilation system in the Touchstone and in other buildings on the APT campus has been improved to meet new safety guidelines. “And, of course, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize,” Brenda DeVita adds.

In addition to the aforementioned opening productions, other plays initially offered include the following:

In the Hill Theatre

• Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard, adapted from the original play by Ferenc Molnár, brings two playwrights together with two established stars and one musical phenom pledged to write the group’s next musical while aboard a ship on the high seas. An unexpected tryst among performers rocks the boat, nearly capsizing the whole project in this witty comedy. The play runs July -Aug. 7.

• Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, adapted by Henry Woronicz, tells the tale of a secret marriage, a jealous king, palace intrigue and gender reversing roles in this less familiar Shakespeare adventure set in Rome. The play runs Aug. 12–Sept. 11.

In The Touchstone:

• An Illiad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, translated from Homer’s Illiad by Robert Fagles, is a return of the 2015 bravura performance starring James DeVita, this time as the actor telling Homer’s tale of the Trojan War and the contradictory nature of glory and violence. DeVita is assisted only by the voice of musician Alicia Storin’s cello. The play runs June 25-Aug. 15.

• A Phoenix Too Frequent by Christopher Fry once again takes us to ancient Rome, where Dynamene prepares to be entombed with her late husband’s corpse until her grief is derailed by the appearance of handsome soldier Tegeus in this comedy about love and expectations. The play runs Aug. 26-Oct. 3.

Rough Crossing and A Phoenix Too Frequent were originally scheduled as part of the cancelled 2020 season. Depending on how this season goes, APT likely will add three more productions later in the summer.

“I just hope everyone – our company, our audience, you, me—wrings every possible drop of joy out of this year, in the safest way possible,” the artistic director says. “We deserve it.”

For more details, visit the American Players website.