Summer 2020 in Review

It's me again, Smee the intern! I'm back with the same trench coat and ukulele, but I’ve swapped my favorite hat for my favorite mask this summer.

Boy, it’s been a while since the last blog update, hasn’t it? A whole crazy year has passed, so let’s go back a few months and review Stage Right’s summer in the time of Covid-19. This'll be a long post because we've got a lot to review!

Prior to Pennsylvania’s reopening in June, Stage Right was teaching classes and rehearsals virtually through Zoom. They also had pre-recorded Library Shows available for library groups to view. Once Westmoreland County entered the “green phase,” Stage Right figured out how to adapt in-person classes to the new restrictions and safety precautions. This included reduced class sizes, spacing students out to keep them socially distanced, checking each student and staff member’s temperature every day, practicing outside when possible, wearing masks, and thoroughly cleaning the studio at the end of each day.

Thanks to these safety measures, we were still able to hold several theatrical workshops and productions for our students this summer. These, of course, were very different from years past, but actors are resilient, and these students were able to adapt in order to safely do the thing they love: perform.

Let’s look at a recap of the student shows this summer, shall we?

Los Pequeñitos 1: “Zoom Zoo” (June 13)

This summer marks the second year of Maya Bhatnagar’s bilingual theatre workshop, “Los Pequeñitos” (or, “The Little Ones”). This week-long camp featured a cast of 5-to-9 year olds, with some in person and most attending virtually through Zoom. Learning a second language is difficult even without the added challenges of virtual learning and teachers wearing masks, but these kids were still able to learn colors, animals, and get to sing and dance in Spanish.

Plus, I got to be a penguin.