This year the Performing Arts Department has planned an ambitious slate of dance and drama events to stage within pandemic conditions. We have a mix of zoom-only events, small-scale filmed original dance and dramatic productions, and a mobile pageant-wagon project based on Medieval outdoor spectacles in development for spring. We are excited about all the opportunities for creative problem solving and creative expression that this will give our students. We're staging a great deal of original plays written by students and former students, so this year, even more than most, our students are the creative engine of our season.
It is hard to predict what effect this year's challenges will have on our audiences. We're accustomed to issuing between five and six thousand tickets each year for our dance and drama events. Will we see that many when families can't travel, and when most opportunities to watch students perform will be on a screen? It's very hard to predict. As we do every year, we'll put a massive amount of creative and organizational energy into what we put on stage, and welcome everyone who comes to see our work. We've decided that, given the unusual performance conditions, we will let our tickets be free to students (as they always are) and let families and community members pay what they can. That's fair, given what's going on in the world. All the money we take in goes right into producing next year's season, so it's important to generate ticket revenue. But most of all we just hope for big audiences for the students and faculty who have put so much into each event.
