Gettysburg Community Theatre Plans Re-Opening After A Year Of Being Closed

Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization in historic downtown Gettysburg, PA, has been closed to the public since March 16, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last Spring, GCT pivoted completely to virtual programming rather than in person camps, classes, rehearsals and performances, and during that time produced over 10 different online classes and over 20 different virtual remote safe at home performances for 2020. On April 16, 2021, GCT will open to a sold out (20 seats) audience for the Jason Robert Brown contemporary musical The Last Five Years about a relationship between two New Yorkers. This will be the first time an audience has been inside GCT in over a year.

Even with Governor restrictions on venues being lifted some to 75% capacity, theatres still need to follow CDC guidelines on masks and distancing. Distancing theatre seats is near impossible with 75% capacity, so GCT's 80 seat theatre will currently only allow 20 seats to be filled per performance until further notice. Unfortunately, ticket sales cover 70% of the non profit theatre budget, which is pretty standard among community theatres across the country. Limiting ticket sales to so few seats will definitely be a new challenge for GCT to face in 2021, but the Board of Directors and staff of two agree, anything is better than nothing at all. As the only year-round community theatre in all of Adams County, Gettysburg Community Theatre fills a void in the community.

Now in its 13th season, Gettysburg Community Theatre has offered educational, performance, and volunteer opportunities for all ages and abilities. The non profit recently held a successful facebook fundraiser open to anyone to donate for the month of March. The fundraiser raised over 18k from 157 donors. GCT is so grateful to these very generous donors as every little bit helps get the theatre through another month of being shuttered. Limits on how many students, actors, volunteers, and audience can be in the theatre, will put a damper on generating income through programming, so fundraisers will be prominent this year. GCT hopes to partner with local restaurants for dine in/take out days where the restaurants will donate a percentage of their choice of all checks to GCT in order to help raise much needed funds for the struggling theatre that so many children and adults alike call their second home and second family. GCT held one of these restaurant fundraiser days at Hoss's in March and the next one will be April 20th dine in or take out any time between Noon-8pm at The Upper Crust located just a few doors down from GCT on York Street near Lincoln Square. The Upper Crust is donating 20% of each check to GCT that day if the patron says they are there for GCT before they order.

Another fundraising effort GCT is currently doing is selling Raffle Tickets for a chance to win five seats to any upcoming performance inside the theatre for a live in person show. Streaming tickets are also on sale on the theatre website www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org so audiences can enjoy performances at home at the exact same showtimes. Patrons that win the raffle drawings will win five seats to see the show inside the theatre. Each of the groups of five or less would be distanced from other groups. All audience members must remain masked at all times even when seated watching the show. Temperatures will be taken at the door for entry, and hand sanitizer can be found throughout the theatre. There will be no concessions available and doors will only open just before showtime to limit the amount of time audiences are inside the building.

"What we are currently doing at GCT with streaming shows, limited tickets in person, and various fundraising efforts to make up the difference in revenue loss", says Carr, "is no different than the majority of community theatres across the country. Each State and each County is different, but we continue to monitor closely the Covid-19 Pandemic and follow Governor and CDC guidelines to help protect our community as best we can. This new normal is something we must get used to. Anything we can do to continue providing a safe and creative place for our community, we will do. We are very blessed by our supportive community. We would not be here without them."

Both raffle and streaming tickets are available online now to upcoming shows: The Last Five Years 7pm April 16, 17, 23, & 24, Laundry And Bourbon (Southern Comedy) by James McLure 7pm May 14, 15, & 16 and 2pm May 16, and Lone Star (Southern Comedy) by James McLure 7pm May 21 & 22, and 2pm May 22 & 23. Available for streaming tickets only will be a remote performance reading of a brand new comedy, They Never Did Shakespeare Again, by GCT alum Elizabeth Pellegrino at 7pm May 1 and 2pm May 2. All raffle and streaming tickets must be purchased online in advance, as streaming begins promptly at showtime. All streaming performances are made possible in part by the Adams County Arts Council's STAR Grant, which is funded by the Borough of Gettysburg, Adams County Commissioners, and the Robert C. Hoffman Trust held by Adams County Community Foundation.

GCT has been called a gem, a community treasure, and a light of hope in the past by members of the Adams County community. One thing that GCT was able to do during 2020 is light up the front of the building with colored lights a different color each month for various causes and awareness. This month of April, GCT is lit up blue for Autism Awareness, also displayed out front are puzzle piece ribbons for Autism, and pinwheels for Child Abuse Awareness. The lights may be dim for now inside but soon the stage lights will shine again for everyone to "find their stage door...and open it!"

More information about upcoming performances, fundraisers, and donation information can be found online at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org.

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