Interview: Jenny Ballard discusses upcoming Gala at Theatre Baton Rouge

With the novel coronavirus keeping theatres dark, audience members wonder what the future may hold for their beloved playhouses. The staff of one such playhouse, Theatre Baton Rouge, has been hard at work these past few months, updating their 75th season and altering their annual Gala to fit an entirely different type of stage.

This year marks the fifth annual Gala, which TBR had initially been planned to air live on May 9th. With Louisiana's coronavirus regulations, they not only had to push back the date but also change it to a virtual platform, which will stream online August 7-9.

"COVID changed everything," said TBR Artistic Director Jenny Ballard.

When Ballard realized the theatre was unable to do the gala live, she reached out to Gala director Marion Bienvenu and music director Jaime Leonard-Brubaker for contingency plans.

"This is our major fundraiser, so we had to figure out how we can do it virtually," Ballard said.

Bienvenu and Leonard came up with ideas that evolved to turning the main stage of TBR into a film studio. After the decision was made, the cast was contacted to continue the show with the new platform. The response was exciting, according to Ballard.

"Nearly every single person we cast back in early March still wanted to be involved," Ballard said.

During June and the beginning of July, Bienvenu and Leonard held one-on-one zoom rehearsals with each of the 35-member cast on individual songs and specific parts.

"Once we had safely moved into Phase 2, we decided to film it in the theatre on an individual basis with the actors," Ballard said.

Each actor would be brought on stage one at a time, wearing a wireless mic that would feed them pre-recorded music from a live 5-person orchestra. Hearing the music, they would then sing along while they were being recorded live. For those who are recording the performance, they cannot hear the live orchestra.

"All we can hear is the person singing by themselves," Ballard said. "It's a fascinating experience. It's very much like being on a film set if you're doing a major dance club scene."

In addition to taping the performances, other safety measures that have been taken include social distancing, temperature checks, mask usage, partitions on stage and cleaning for 20-30 minutes between each performance.

"We've been very careful about all of the protocol we've put into place with that," Ballard said. "We're doing everything we can to keep our volunteers and staff safe."

The theme of the Gala is contemporary musical theatre, featuring hits from the past 20 years, including songs from WICKED, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, WAITRESS, THE LAST FIVE YEARS and HAMILTON. Many of the numbers are solos or duets, but for the three songs performed by the entire company, each performer will be fused in a "Brady Bunch" fashion with each singer in their own square.

"It has been a process," Ballard said. "I think this could possibly be the most ambitious project Theatre Baton Rouge has ever done, and we have done some ambitious projects."

Tickets for the Gala are $40, which provides a private link and password, and can be streamed live during the three-day viewing period. For tickets, visit theatrebr.org or call the box office at (225) 924-6496.

"Our goal is to sell 327 virtual seats," Ballard said. "If we can surpass that so much the better."

Another option to support TBR is to purchase Gala raffle tickets for $10. Tickets will be on sale through midnight on August 9th, and the winners will go live on TBR's Facebook on Monday, August 10th.

The Gala is just one of many virtual events that TBR has begun since quarantine first started, including streamed productions of HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE and A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2 and smaller events such as Quaran-tunes.

"We're planning one virtual event per month for the foreseeable future, at least," Ballard said. "We'll be doing a weekend of one acts, an Alfred Hitchcock radio play, some of our greatest hits as radio plays coming up in the coming season. Our major goal is to keep the doors open and make it to year 76."

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