{"id":26665,"date":"2021-10-15T08:39:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T15:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000022607"},"modified":"2021-10-15T08:39:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T15:39:05","slug":"long-beach-playhouse-ramps-up-for-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/long-beach-playhouse-ramps-up-for-holiday-season","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Playhouse ramps up for holiday season"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a year of empty stages, the Long Beach Playhouse just closed its first in-person show of 2021, \u201cNoises Off,\u201d and is preparing for a busy season ahead.<\/p>\n

For Madison Mooney, Long Beach Playhouse executive director, \u201dNoises Off\u201d was an exciting return to in-person performances, as the show began its run in March 2020, and had two weekends left before the pandemic caused its premature end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it ended up being even funnier than the one we had originally in 2020, so it was great to have a big comedy to welcome everybody back to entertain and maybe take your mind off of the rest of the world for a couple of hours,\u201d said Mooney.<\/p>\n

Even as the theater was forced to halt its in-person performances, Long Beach Playhouse made sure to keep entertaining audiences from behind a screen rather than a stage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Long Beach Playhouse, established in 1929, reopened its doors after over a year with the production, \u201cNoises Off.\u201d Photo courtesy of Long Beach Playhouse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Playhouse embraced social media challenges with a theatrical spin, such as a \u201cShakespeare monologue challenge\u201d and \u201cMusical Monday\u201d events. The theater even put on a full-length Zoom production of William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cAs You Like It\u201d (the five acts were spread out over the course of five weekends), and a Spanish version of \u201cA Christmas Carol,\u201d (\u201cUn Cuento de Navidad\u201d) posted on YouTube for free viewing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a weird thing to transition to,\u201d said Mooney. \u201cLive theater, it’s in the moment, the audience is next to you, you get feedback immediately, as opposed to just recording a video and putting it out into the void.\u201d<\/p>\n

WiFi issues and differing internet speeds added further challenges to the process, but despite the technical difficulties, Mooney found that virtual performances were able to increase the theater\u2019s outreach, reaching audiences across the country who would be unable to attend an in-person performance, as well as patrons who are uncomfortable being in-person still.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s in-person or virtual, the Playhouse, established in 1929, aims to balance its seasons with a variety of comedies, dramas, classics, and contemporary work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at things as a full season as opposed to just a show-by-show basis, so that everyone around in our community would want to see at least one of them,\u201d said Mooney.<\/p>\n

After a successful beginning to the 2021 season with \u201cNoises Off,\u201d the playhouse is now gearing up for their next production: \u201cSister Act: The Musical,\u201d<\/a> running from Oct. 23 until Nov. 20.<\/p>\n

According to Mooney, the musical follows a similar plot as the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film, but is instead set in the \u201870s, with a \u201cdisco pop\u201d soundtrack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love when we do a musical,\u201d said Mooney. \u201cIt’s gonna be a really fun time for anyone coming out for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cSister Act,\u201d community members can also attend \u201cAngels in America – Part One: Millennium Approaches\u201d<\/a> in the Playhouse\u2019s studio theatre throughout October. The show was initially scheduled for April into May of 2020, and casting had just been completed when the pandemic closed the theater\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n

The studio stage will also host a collaborative series, performed by individual artists or other arts organizations throughout the next few months, such as \u201cMiracle on Anaheim Street, A Comedy Variety Fundraiser,\u201d<\/a> benefitting the WomenShelter of Long Beach. The fundraiser will be held through a partnership with the improv group Held 2Gether on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a nonprofit ourselves, we’re a community theater, so we’re here for our community, and all of our work is done by members of the community,\u201d said Mooney.\u00a0 \u201cSo, connecting with other nonprofits that are doing good work in the city, we want to just elevate and make sure that other nonprofits can also succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as for the theater\u2019s Christmas season, auditions for this year\u2019s \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d concluded Oct. 13, with upcoming performances throughout December.<\/p>\n

Mooney said community members can look forward to the announcement of the theater\u2019s 2022 productions, and she also hopes for the return of youth and adult education classes in the coming year. But in the meantime, she is excited to be getting the theater\u2019s shows up and running, and is taking the full reopening one step at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building had just been so empty and quiet. And so having people and noise and voices has been absolutely wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach Playhouse is at 5021 E. Anaheim St.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether it\u2019s in-person or virtual, the Playhouse, established in 1929, aims to balance its seasons with a variety of comedies, dramas, classics, and contemporary work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":71746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1453],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[31860],"class_list":["post-26665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-theater","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26665"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=26665"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}