GALA Hispanic Theatre Shares Safety Guidelines in Place For October Reopening

The GALA Theatre has shared the procedures and policies they will be implementing in preparation for opening its season in October. These guidelines are in adherence with the Mayor's plans for re-opening the city in three phases as well as the Homeland Security's business re-opening requirements.

Universal Policies

1. Wear a mask whenever possible.

2. Wash hands regularly with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer.

3. Stay 6 feet apart whenever possible.

General

1. The theater, lobby, dressing rooms, and bathrooms will be cleaned and disinfected daily during the run of performances with CDC approved products.

2. All high-traffic areas, doorknobs, and other communal surfaces such as armrests, banisters, and counters, will be disinfected before and after every performance.

3. Masks, gloves, automated hand sanitizer stations, and disinfecting hand wipes will be readily available at the lobby.

4. All theater staff/volunteers will be required to wear masks. Bartenders will be required to wear masks and gloves. Patrons are required to wear masks by mayoral ordinance.

5. We have installed high efficiency filters in our newly revamped HVAC system. HVAC system has HEPA Filter (including 20 sub filters) with a MERV 14 rating which filters particulates as small as 0.3 microns with at least 99.97% efficiency.

Tickets

1. GALA will only sell up to 50 tickets per show, or 19% capacity of our house during Phase II. That amount may go up to 100 during Phase III. Rush tickets will not be available and advanced reservations are highly encouraged.

2. Tickets can be exchanged for future shows in the season. Refunds will be given on a case-by-case basis. Your purchase of a ticket acknowledges that you have been made aware of all of GALA's procedures to ensure your safety and agree GALA cannot be held accountable for any contraction of illness.

At the Theatre

1. Entering theatre: Markers will be placed on the floor for patrons to line up outside the box office doors, respecting social distancing.

2. Volunteers will check the temperature (with non-touch thermometers) of all patrons entering the theater.

3. Patrons will show their electronic tickets (on their phone or devices) or printed out tickets to the box office manager. Goldstar and TodayTix purchasers will be on a list and checked off as they come in.

4. The lobby and house will open 45 minutes before show time. No more than 15 people (15% capacity) will be allowed in the lobby at a time. This may change with changing regulations for social distancing.

5. Patrons are encouraged to seat immediately as to not gather in the lobby. Our seat assignments will respect the social distancing rule of 6 feet between patrons (every 5th seat). Individual and paired seating options are available for purchase on our website. Groups of 3 or more who have been quarantined together or live together may request, when they reserve their tickets, to be seated together in a group by emailing info@galatheatre.org.

6. Printed programs will be available for patrons and may be handed by an usher or volunteer wearing gloves.

Concessions

1. Drinks can be pre-ordered at our lobby bar or at a bar on our house left balcony, both with social distancing markers on the floor. One person per group can come to the bar to order or patrons can have a server, wearing gloves and a mask, bring the order to their seat. The lobby bar is full service. The balcony bar will serve wine, beer, and premixed drinks until 5 minutes prior to showtime.

Intermission and Exiting

1. Intermissions will be extended to twenty minutes to allow more time for everyone to use facilities. GALA will hire additional front of house personnel to control use of restrooms and no more than two people at a time will be let into the restrooms.

2. Patrons are encouraged to use both house right and house left exits during intermission at the end of the show to prevent high traffic and may use both the street level exit and the garage exit at the end of the show. The garage exit will not be available during intermission.

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