North Texas Performing Arts Announces Schedule Changes Due to Covid-19

NTPA has issued a health update regarding COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

"The safety and wellbeing of our students and their families is our highest priority, and we continue to work to ensure we are providing the safest possible environment. In response to the continued heightened threat status of the COVID-19/Novel Coronavirus and in concert with the actions of many local educational and theatrical institutions, we are announcing the following schedule changes:

• There will be no changes in this weekend's scheduled "10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse" at NTPA - Fairview. At-Risk individuals and any travelers recently visiting countries identified in the CDC's Level 3 Travel Notice will not be able to attend. The audience will be limited to no more than 75 patrons, and all participants are encouraged to practice safe social distance guidelines (see below). For those unable to attend the show, we obtained special permission to live stream one performance. Those individuals unable to attend may view via special live video at the NTPA - Fairview Facebook page on Saturday March 14, at 2:15 PM. Tickets are still available at NTPA.org/event/zombie-spring-break/ In lieu of purchasing tickets, patrons are encouraged to support this production by making a donation online.
  
• All classes and rehearsals across the NTPA system scheduled for next week will be postponed. There will be no classes or rehearsals at any NTPA location through March 21. Regular classes and rehearsals will resume on Sunday, March 22.

• This weekend's UpSTARt workshops in Plano and Frisco (3/14 and 3/15) and Broadway Connection Workshop in Fairview (3/14) have been canceled. Families who have registered will be contacted individually about processing transfers for these enrollments.

• Next weekend's productions of Frisco's Frozen Jr., Fairview's Stinky Cheese Man and Plano's Mary Poppins will be delayed one week with individual shows rescheduled as outlined below. We will announce before 5 PM, Tuesday, March 17 the specific process for ticket exchange for each production. Revised tech rehearsal schedules will be communicated to each cast via our show communication platform on Google Classroom.

• To accommodate those families struggling with alternatives given local ISD closures, we will be EXTENDING THE AVAILABILITY of our PLANO SPRING BREAK CAMPS into next week, providing a place for those students ages 5-18 at the Willow Bend Center of the Arts. For more details, go to NTPA.org/spring-break-camps/

• The NTPA - Frisco AMP Awards Ceremony will be rescheduled from Saturday, April 18 to Saturday, May 30. All other details regarding this event remain unchanged.

• Given the very special nature of our Starcatchers Therapeutic Drama program, we will be suspending activities for two weeks. The Starcatchers AMP Awards and Rockstar events and upcoming production of Frozen will be rescheduled to a date still to be finalized, and will be communicated to this troupe as soon as possible.

• We will continue to offer private lessons, though leave it to parents and instructors to agree upon the best scheduling plan and Skype will be made available upon request. We will not be altering our 24 hour cancellation notice policy, so if a student/parent wishes to make a change, we ask that you do so in time to avoid those charges.

• All Auditions between now and March 23 will be conducted via video submission on Youtube as "unlisted" and then a link provided to the Director. Participants should watch for additional details from specific Directors and shows.

For the North Texas Performing Arts Academy:

• We will be extending our Spring Break by one week. There will be no class or rehearsal sessions March 16-20 and classes will resume the week beginning March 23.
• To accommodate our Academy families, we WILL MAKE AVAILABLE THE CORE CAFE next week during regularly scheduled hours, 8AM to 5PM. Depending on the need expressed by our families, we will revisit the Café hours as the week progresses.
• We will continue to offer private lessons, though leave it to parents and instructors to agree upon the best scheduling plan and Skype will be made available upon request. We will not be altering our 24 hour cancellation notice policy, so if a student/parent wishes to make a change, we ask that you do so in time to avoid those charges.
• At this time, we plan to resume our normal Academy schedule on Monday, March 23, and complete the Spring 2020 Semester.

We look to your support in reinforcing those actions recommended by the CDC and outlined in earlier NTPA communications at NTPA.org/covid19/ .

For those students under our care and adults in our theatres, we will also be enforcing a policy of "safe social distance" and discouraging participants from any form of physical contact, avoiding "hugs" or handshakes, and maintaining a three-foot physical space when possible.

As a non-profit children's theatre, we ask that our patrons continue to support give generously given the additional strain these changes make on our operations. Thank you for your support and understanding in these challenging times, and your flexibility in these changes."

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