{"id":2456796,"date":"2020-04-06T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/theatre-aspen-delays-start-to-summer-season-due-to-covid-19-crisis\/"},"modified":"2020-04-06T05:00:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T11:00:01","slug":"theatre-aspen-delays-start-to-summer-season-due-to-covid-19-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/theatre-aspen-delays-start-to-summer-season-due-to-covid-19-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Aspen delays start to summer season due to COVID-19 crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"613\" height=\"409\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/theatreaspen-atd-040620.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/theatreaspen-atd-040620.jpg 613w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/theatreaspen-atd-040620-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\"><figcaption><strong>An image of the Hurst Theatre taken by Mike Lyons.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy photo\/Theatre Aspen<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Theatre Aspen is delaying and modifying the start to its 2020 summer season due to the coronavirus pandemic, staff is set to announce Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The company\u2019s 37th summer season now will begin July 6 with the Tony-nominated musical \u201cRock of Ages\u201d (runs through Aug. 1), will move the Tony and Drama Desk award-winning musical \u201cChicago\u201d to August (runs Aug. 6 through Aug. 22), and postpone Neil Simon\u2019s comedy \u201cThe Sunshine Boys\u201d to 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Other summer schedule changes include postponing Theatre Aspen Education\u2019s outdoor performance of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d to 2021, and moving the Season Sneak Peek to June 28 at the Hurst Theatre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to Jed Bernstein, producing director, Theatre Aspen started looking at how the company\u2019s summer season would be impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in early March when related closures started happening across the country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe started looking at all different scenarios about if and when this lasted this long or that long, whatever it might be, as we knew this was not going to be a 10-day event,\u201d Bernstein said Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After discussion with Theatre Aspen\u2019s board and executive committee members over the past few weeks, Bernstein said the decision was made to delay the season\u2019s start and implement schedule changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When asked how Theatre Aspen decided on postponing \u201cThe Sunshine Boys\u201d and \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d specifically, Bernstein said it was a matter of logistics. Both \u201cRock of the Ages\u201d and \u201cChicago\u201d have more in common with each other than with \u201cThe Sunshine Boys\u201d in regards to overlapping performers and similar sets, making it more efficient to keep the two musicals and postpone the play, Bernstein said. Casting will be announced soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As for \u201cMidsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d Theatre Aspen Education\u2019s first-ever student Shakespeare performance, it was going to be rehearsed earliest and there just wasn\u2019t room to put it later in the season unless two student shows ran at the same time, which Bernstein said wasn\u2019t feasible and unfair to students who may want to be in more than one performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Other minor schedule alterations to the summer season include running \u201cRock of Ages\u201d and \u201cChicago\u201d in sequential order versus rotating repertory style. The season will also feature a new Freedom Flex Pass, giving ticket buyers the greatest options and flexibility for dates and shows with no added fees for changes, along with an expanded Summer Cabaret Series with six evenings of dinners and performances, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While Bernstein said Theatre Aspen is closely monitoring the evolving COVID-19 crisis and will continue to follow the guidance of health and government officials, he feels it is important for Aspen arts organizations to be there for locals and visitors after the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIn American history going back at least 150 years to the Civil War, the arts in general and theater in particular was a place people flocked to during crisis and after crisis,\u201d Bernstein said. \u201cWe are social animals and we crave shared experience, and I think it will be no different this time,\u201d Bernstein continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWith the cancellation of Food &amp; Wine and the (Aspen) Ideas Festival, there\u2019s not only going to be a big economic hit to Aspen but I think an emotional one because those are two such iconic events we all enjoy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat puts extra responsibility on ourselves and the music festival and JAS to try to be as vibrant as we can this summer and to do what we can for people\u2019s psyches as well as for the local economy. \u2026 It\u2019s going to be a tricky road, but I think it\u2019s a road we all feel is important to travel down if this community is going to bounce back as quickly as we hope and know it will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/theatre-aspen-delays-start-to-summer-season-due-to-covid-19-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An image of the Hurst Theatre taken by Mike Lyons.Courtesy photo\/Theatre Aspen Theatre Aspen is delaying and modifying the start to its 2020 summer season due to the coronavirus pandemic, staff is set to announce Monday. The company\u2019s 37th summer season now will begin July 6 with the Tony-nominated musical \u201cRock of Ages\u201d (runs through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 06:09:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}