The cast of PACT’s September performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,’ staged outdoors at Jackson Park. A holiday variety show is currently being planned for Dec. 11-12, inside at Hood River Valley Adult Center.
PACT Theater — Performances at the Adult Center — is slowly made a comeback on the live theater scene after the COVID-19 pandemic brought in-person performances to a halt.
In 2020 and into early 2021, PACT was limited to Zoom performances, with the streaming of one act plays that had been pre-recorded and performed by local members from their homes during the summer. Monthly Zoomcasts were later added, showing prior productions, from November 2020 through May of this year.
The cast of PACT’s September performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,’ staged outdoors at Jackson Park. A holiday variety show is currently being planned for Dec. 11-12, inside at Hood River Valley Adult Center.
David Mackintosh photo
“Gary Young (PACT chair) was running a one-act play competition and the PACT Committee had chosen a couple to perform in the spring, which became our first Zoomcasts,” said PACT Artistic Director Lynda Dallman. “We decided to get creative — and learned how to use Zoom and preform the one acts and Zoomcast productions.”
Dallman also met with Sullivan Mackintosh this past March. Mackintosh had created and managed the Children’s Theater Program at Columbia Center for the Arts from 2017-2020.
“Vaccines were happening and we thought an outdoor Shakespeare production might be a fun and safe way for PACT to start up live theater again — and raise funds for Meals on Wheels,” Dallman said. She produced the show; Mackintosh directed. The two picked “As You Like It” and staged it at Jackson Park in Hood River for two weekends in September. While the last show was canceled due to rain, the committee met its goal of selling 100 tickets each weekend.
“Despite COVID challenges during the past 18 months, it’s exciting to see live theater making a comeback in the Gorge,” Dallman said.
Dallman said the performance was made possible by “generous business sponsors, supportive community members and an enthusiastic cast and crew.” Audiences were good about wearing masks and staying socially distanced on chairs and picnic blankets, and the production netted $4,200 for Meals on Wheels.
“We are especially grateful to local businesses and those individuals who stepped up with donations to support the production,” she said. “Audiences were thrilled to see live theater again, and felt safe wearing masks and social distancing in the outdoor setting.”
Mackintosh said that the past two years have been tough on the arts community.
“… The arts are a vital part of any community, and theater in particular is a collaborative art form that thrives on close connections,” she said. “We’ve really had to think outside the box to find ways to create together.”
CCA’s Children’s Theater Program production of “Charlotte’s Web,” directed by Jennifer Harty, was one of the many area productions that had to cancel runs in March 2020.
But, Mackintosh said, theater has been around “for thousands of years and has survived all kinds of catastrophe. In a strange way, it’s been an opportunity to challenge our preconceived notions of how theater ‘should’ be done. Zoom theater didn’t exist two years ago! And while it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s much more accessible to people who live far away, who are unable to safely leave home, or who don’t have reliable transportation. How wonderful that we have this new way to share stories!”
There’s been an uptick in outdoor productions during this time as well, such as “As You Like It” — the first play performed on the new, upgraded stage at Jackson Park in Hood River.
“We’ve become more flexible and placed a greater emphasis on keeping people both physically and emotionally safe,” she said. “I just wish that a devastating pandemic hadn’t been the inciting event for all the creativity that theater artists have managed over these last two years.”
As for upcoming events, plans are underway for a family-friendly, variety type holiday show at the Hood River Valley Adult Center Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. COVID protocols will be followed. More information will be available in the coming weeks; check Columbia Gorge News’ What’s Happening event listing for details.
The PACT Committee — Young, Dallman, Vice Chair Kathy Williams, Assistant Artistic Director Bill Weiler, Secretary Richard Withers, Ken McCarty and Irene Fields — is also meeting monthly, Dallman said, and hopes to produce at least three shows in 2022.
For those wishing to donate to the program, checks made payable to Hood River Valley Adult Center — designated PACT on the memo line — are welcome. And there are other ways to help all Gorge theater programs.
“We pour our hearts and souls into the plays we share. It takes an incredible amount of time, energy, organization, creativity, care, equipment, expertise, and emotional vulnerability — and when we put it all in front of an audience, magic happens,” said Mackintosh, who was recently hired as the theater director for Canby High School. “It’s been a difficult time to be a theater artist, so I encourage the Gorge community to find ways to support theatre whenever they can. Go see the always-incredible high school shows, encourage your workplace to sponsor a community theatre production, help spread the word about shows, buy tickets to see them in person or online.
“We’re not going anywhere, but we can’t do it alone — It takes a village to raise a curtain, so to speak.”
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