SALT LAKE CITY — Alliance Theater at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City is bringing live and virtual performances to the stage with the hopes of getting artists back to work and bringing joy to the community.
“Artists are able to come in here and work and move and use space, you know dancers need to move their bodies and use space,” said Jay Perry, Alliance Theater manager.
The theater was designed and built during the pandemic and therefore emphasizes performer and audience safety.
“We want to just make sure the artist and the public who are here are really safe. Safety first for us, so we’re just gonna kind of take it slowly and kind of ease into it as things continue to get better,” Perry said.
The theater has spaced and customizable seating options for socially-distanced live performances. Right now 20 -25 people can watch in person but, as Utah’s COVID-19 restrictions loosen, Perry said they will let more people into each performance.
“Artists exist to sort of shine a light on what’s happening in society and to lift people’s spirits, make people smile, make people cry, but make people feel, and so that’s what artists have always wanted to do, and exist to do and we’re happy to be able to provide a place for them to do that,” Perry said.
Artists and performers are among the many workers whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Perry hopes Alliance Theater can mitigate the problem for Utah artists.
“We have lots of people in the community that work in the arts and it has a great ripple effect, it’s one of the great things about our state that we are really proud of, is all of the incredible artist in the state and we want to support them and this is a way to support your community,” Perry said.
Saturday is the opening event where groups, myriad and the taiko drummers, will put on “microperformances.”
If you’d like to attend you can register online for a 30 minute time slot.
https://www.showclix.com/event/alliance-theater
Or watch a live stream via the Alliance Theater Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/alliancetheater
