Fifth of six parts

Across the Lehigh Valley, theaters where plays and musicals are staged are dark as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic mandates.

“Hey, let’s put on a show,” the clarion call of Mickey Rooney to Judy Garland in “Babes in Arms” (1939) from the Golden Age of Hollywood movie musicals, is not so easy in these days of the coronavirus shutdowns.

And few area stage venues feel the pinch more keenly than the nonprofit community theater, The Pennsylvania Playhouse, Bethlehem.

Rody Gilkeson, Pennsylvania Playhouse Theater Administrator, has been scrambling to find ways to keep the more than 70-year-old theater afloat while the stage is empty.

“We are driven by ticket sales,” Gilkeson says of the Playhouse. “We have no corporate sponsors.”

The Playhouse has launched a fundraising campaign, “We All Play A Part.”

its production of “12 Angry Jurors” had started tech week, which is when lighting, sound and staging details are worked out, in March as the Commonwealth clampdown came down. Performances of “Jurors’ were canceled.

Already paid were the director, stage director and costume designer, each of whom receives stipends for Playhouse shows. Other participants, including the actors, are volunteers at the Playhouse.

“‘We hope to roll the show [‘Jurors’] into our 2021 season,” Gilkeson says.

A second Playhouse 2020 season production, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” scheduled for May and June, had been cast but was also canceled.

“There was a lot of sorrow,” Gilkeson says. “It was to be the first show in the area for director Shannon O’Grady and I felt horrible for her.”

Instead, O’Grady got the “Charlie Brown” cast together and they did a Zoom video of the show’s “Happpiness” song finale that was posted on the Playhouse social media page.

Other shows, including the Playhouse’s eagerly-anticipated summer musical, “Annie,” had not yet held auditions and also was canceled.

When Gilkeson canceled “Annie,” he noted the difficulty of casting a musical amidst the uncertainty of the changing social-distancing and other mandates of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Red, Yellow and Green phases.

Also canceled is October’s production of the Lehigh Valley premiere of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” which Gilkeson was to have directed.

“Guide” is now also planned for the Playhouse 2021 season.

The Playhouse holiday show, “Miracle on 9th Street,” which revolves around a plotline inspired by the former Hess’s department store at Ninth and Hamilton streets, Allentown, is still scheduled Dec. 4-20.

“We have our fingers crossed,” Gilkeson says.

Having to refund canceled tickets and paying ongoing expenses for the theater building along Illick’s Mill Road means that money is going out but not coming in for the nonprofit theater.

“It’s spiraling,” says Gilkeson. “I don’t want to see theater fall by the wayside because of this.”

He says that Playhouse patrons have been “very understanding” and some have given the amount of their prepaid tickets as a donation to the Playhouse.

Right now, Gilkeson wants to make sure the Playhouse stays in the public eye.

As part of “We All Play A Part,” former Playhouse directors and leads from popular shows did video testimonials that are posted online.

“We are doing fundraising,” Gilkeson says. “We are selling T-shirts and there’s a lot of stuff online.”

Gilkeson continues working for the Playhouse “more like a volunteer board member” and isn’t sure if his position, created in 2018, will survive the pandemic.

“I never went into this to make a lot of money,” he says. “Things still need to be done. It’s community theater and I want it to thrive.”

Gilkeson says that, while singer-songwriters can post videos of their original songs online, it is a little trickier for theaters because of licensing and copyrights for shows. There could be performing rights problems if performers would sing copyrighted songs for an online cabaret.

The Playhouse is a member of ASCAP and BMI, the two leading organizations which regulate performing rights of copyrighted material.

“We want to stay above board with everyone,” Gilkeson says.

If the Playhouse was to post videos online of shows it has produced, it could be liable for royalties. Theater companies are only allowed to videotape shows for archive purposes. Gilkeson takes the matter of intellectual property very seriously.

Gilkeson is considering leveraging the rights for shows to help the Playhouse next year.

Since the performing rights were already paid for many of the Playhouse 2020 season shows, he’s negotiating the rights for shows for the 2021 season rather than asking for refunds.

“That way when we start next season, we will not have that big debt hanging over our head,” he says.

Paying the royalty fee to produce a show is one of the biggest expenses that theaters face.

“My hope is to do four of our six shows next year with rights prepaid,” says Gilkeson.

That is also why he hopes the holiday show will happen since the show was written locally so the costs are lower. The show is based on “Miracle on 34th Street,” but puts the story of Kris Kringle being hired to play Santa in the Lehigh Valley’s largest department store.

“If we can get to our Christmas show, it would be pretty profitable,” Gilkeson says.

He says the Playhouse is fortunate to have a “rainy day” fund and can survive without staging shows for a while, but “if it goes too long that fund will be drained.”

There also will be challenges with social-distancing requirements when theaters are allowed to reopen.

“Our theater is small with only 180 seats.” Gilkeson says. “I think people will be hesitant to come out at first because they will want to be safe.

“There’s a lot of work ahead but I think we will be able to do it.”

Whatever happens, Gilkeson says he is in it for the long haul.

“I just love the theater and the Playhouse is where I started,” he says.

“It’s my home. I would do this for free because I want the Playhouse to be successful. Eventually, we will be back.”

Information: http://www.paplayhouse.org/

Next Week: Christopher Patrick Mullen, of The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, “Gigless in the Valley,” last of six parts