Tom Frey was set for a busy summer. He had just been named associate artistic director at the Peterborough Players in March and was set to be part of four shows during the 87th season of the Players – directing the Second Company’s rendition of the Russian fairytale “The Frog Princess” and three on stage roles in “Mousetrap,” “Into the Woods” and “Getting Married.” On top of that, Frey had directing jobs lined up for theaters in Canada, Maryland and another on the west coast.
“I had a really great year lined up,” Frey said. Had being the key word.
As the coronavirus pandemic brought the entertainment world to a screeching halt, the theater industry was not spared. First it was Broadway who turned off the lights and then smaller theaters around the country followed suit, including the Players in April.
So what looked like a busy summer schedule and beyond for Frey, all of a sudden turned into a pretty wide open calendar.
“It’s obviously not like any other summer,” Frey said. “And what I’ve realized is I haven’t had a free summer in 11 years.”
He’s still busy working for the Players, reading plays in preparation for next year, working through different scenarios to reopen safely – when they feel able to – and looking at what the organization can do to be even stronger when they finally open the doors again.
While he works remotely most days, there are times when he goes to the theater and it’s definitely a much different feeling.
“I’m never there where there isn’t something going on,” Frey said. “There’s always a show going up.”
But not this year.
“Hopefully we’ll never have a time like this again,” Frey said.
Nora Fiffer, co-founder of Firelight Theater, said the fifth installment of “We Were Friends,” performed in December to conclude Firelight’s second season, brought about a sense of excitement for what the third season had in store. But before it could even get going, COVID-19 hit and with it a pause in live performances.
Yet it didn’t mean Fiffer and co-founder Jason Lambert were going to stop creating. They shifted gears for the sixth installment of the non-chronological story about the 14 year friendship between Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson. What audience members expected to be a virtual performance, resulted in three letters being sent to ticket holders over the matter of days, featuring correspondence between the two friends.
“We didn’t tell them how the episode was going to be shared,” Fiffer said. “But this has forced us to get creative.”
And with episode seven set for late September, Fiffer said there is another unique plan in the works.
“It will be immersive in our own way,” she said. “And I want to leave it up to their imagination.”
Firelight has always operated under unique parameters, Fiffer said, so adapting was never out of the question. But it hasn’t been easy.
“What is missing is the human interaction with the audience,” she said. “So there is a loss there because it’s what we do. We connect person to person.”
Beyond the next episode they are also working through theme recommendations for their next installment of Tiny Stories, with an announcement to come soon for submissions. And they’ve been busy writing because the creativity doesn’t need to stop.
Kathy Manfre only had one role lined up for the summer, playing Cinderella’s stepmother in the Players performance of “Into the Woods”. But the Players season cancellation meant she wouldn’t be stepping on the theater’s stage in the summer of 2020.
“It’s been kind of sad, I can’t deny that,” Manfre said. Not just for herself, but friends who had parts on Broadway, others who make the Players their summer home and the hundreds of audience members who spend many summer nights at the theater.
“The summer for us is the theater, that’s our social gathering,” Manfre said, who takes in many shows when not on stage. “It felt like such a loss.”
She’s heard comments from friends and perfect strangers expressing their sorrow about the season cancellation and Manfre came to realize early in the summer that it just wasn’t going to be the same.
While her role would have only required two weeks of rehearsal and two more weeks of performances “that’s a big chunk of the summer that I’ll miss.”
She’s kept busy, diving into some voice over work, but there’s always that sense of loss around the summer.
“It really does center around the Players for me,” Manfre said. “The Players is in my heart.”
But she’s been impressed to see how different theaters have responded, citing the innovation she’s seen from the Players and others she’s worked with around the New England area.
And it might need to be that way for a while.
“The intimacy of being on stage, the intimacy of sitting so close together, I think theater might be the last thing to come back,” Manfre said.
Frey said there’s always talk about what can be done during this time. While they haven’t put on any shows, there have been forays into the virtual world with Bright Spots, where company members share their stories, Our Playhouse, readings from the book celebrating the first 75 years of the Players, and a digital cabaret.
He’s realized how much is actually accomplished over the course of a summer season during those few short months of rehearsals and performances. But he’s also realized something even more meaningful about his artistic home.
“This is family,” Frey said. “This isn’t like any other theater.”
And when Frey does get to step on that stage again, whether it be for a rehearsal or show, it will be even more special than before.
“I think it will be just that much more poignant,” he said. “It’s like getting a second chance.”