Streamed shows, flexibility from Paula Tomei

Last year, South Coast Repertory encountered its most difficult situation in its 57-year history. It canceled five productions, its national showcase of new works at the Pacific Playwrights Festival, and two student productions. It cut its staff in half, letting go about 33 employees. It estimated a 25% drop in revenue; instead, the decline was 45% to around $6.3 million.

The theater planned a variety of scenarios last year.

“It took us awhile to figure out in 2020 that we weren’t going to be able to do anything,” Managing Director Paula Tomei said.

“We cannot have indoor audiences. That’s the biggest impact. Our industry was the first to close and likely the last to open indoors. As we moved into 2021, we learned a lot. We remain flexible.”

Nowadays, it’s offering access to a professionally filmed, all new production of “Red Riding Hood,” free of charge to schools/students who are usually bused to the theatre to watch it live as part of Its Theatre for Young Audiences program. Its Pacific Playwrights Festival is showcasing five, professionally filmed staged readings of new plays that are being released for a one-week viewing period between April and June in lieu of the in-person festival that is usually held over a weekend in late April and attended by theatre professionals from across the country.

This summer, it has an entirely new initiative to perform outdoors at the Mission San Juan Capistrano with two plays: “American Mariachi” and “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.”

“Protocols in place from the union require multiple testings over many days. Those are things that we don’t normally experience,” Tomei said.

The fall season is looking more optimistic because of the vaccines, she said.

“Our hope is to reopen inside this fall,” Tomei said. “The real unknown is what our audiences are going to feel. We’ll have to meet the audiences at their comfort levels. We need to understand what their appetite is for in-person theatre and that we’ll be studying this question for some time. We hope we won’t have to socially distance once we can perform inside but will plan accordingly as more information becomes available.”

“We look forward to seeing everyone back inside.”