OGDEN, Utah — The Good Company Theatre has felt the effects of the pandemic as much as anyone.
Friday is opening night for the theater's four-week-long stint of various shows.
But how did they get here and how are they going to stay safe?
“It was really coming into work everyday, sitting in the theater alone and realizing performances wouldn’t be the same,” founder and co-director Alicia Washington told FOX 13.
But when the reality of the situation they were in became clear, it was time to innovate a new approach to being creative and doing what they loved.
“We decided it was best to shut down along with the rest of the state and the country,” Washington said. “[It was] a little exciting to play detective with what can we do with the spaces that we have.”
While the main theater could not be converted safely for performances, an idea came up about their rehearsal space just next door.
“We drew the blinds up and said, 'This could work… This could actually work,'” Washington said about several floor to ceiling windows that look in on the rehearsal space, seen in the video above.
Spectators can sit outside the windows and look in on the performances.
“I’m so honored that Good Company has asked me to present work,” Jo Blake said.
Blake is a experienced dancer with over 20 years of professional experience who has worked everywhere from New York to Chicago and now is a teacher here in Utah. It is his original work that will launch tonight's new way of viewing performances for the theater.
“What's so awesome and beautiful about this is that our audience is on the outside of these windows having to look on the inside and what we are trying to portray, and you don’t typically see dance in that manner,” Blake said. “Not only are they listening to the music and seeing what's going on here, but behind them still going on are the sounds of the city.”
Blake isn’t the only performer — there are many different shows planned in this format. For a list, click here.
Ultimately, Washington hopes this will “remind us of something… of days of yore, if you want to be dramatic about it,” she said while laughing. “And how to do what we do best… safely for everyone involved.”
