Rory and Dee social distancing!
Hello Everyone! I am Rory Pierce, Children’s Theatre Director for Miners Alley Playhouse, and I am excited to be writing one of the first posts for the MAP Blog Launch! Since I field quite a few phone calls, I thought I would give you an update on tickets to shows and after school classes at MAP.
First, I want to say that, while this is a crazy time for everyone, I am glad to be around people who are keeping things in perspective. Dealing with this new situation has made me realize that I get to work with a pretty special group of people: Len Matheo, Lisa DeCaro, Jonathan and Liz Scott-McKean and Leslie Rutherford continue to keep the best interests of everyone involved with MAP at the forefront. Whether it’s the cast and crew of Moon Over Buffalo, the volunteers or our patrons, they continue to make decisions based on what is best for everyone’s health and well being. Kudos to them!
Now, what am I doing to keep myself busy, hmm? Well, yesterday I got to call people who have questions about what will happen next at Miners Alley Playhouse. As you know, our Box Office is not generally open on Mondays and Tuesdays, so on Wednesdays I get to catch up with everyone who has left messages while we were gone. I have got to say we have the best patrons! Everyone was very understanding. The vast majority were just checking in to see what’s happening next. To answer that…
If you have been getting the emails Len sends out you know we are closing our doors for 30 days (beginning last Monday, so it’s only 27 now!) and we’ll see where we are at that point. When we do come back we plan to open with Moon Over Buffalo, which will be a great show for everyone. It’s been weird to put it on hold when we were so close to having it ready. I can tell you right now the cast is ready for an audience and you will have a great time and laugh very hard when you get to see it — I can’t wait to share this amazing cast with the rest of you! They’ve been making me laugh a lot for the last few weeks and it’s time they get to hear someone else’s laughter.
We hope to reschedule everyone who has tickets to the show. We aren’t moving any tickets yet because we don’t know what the new show dates will be. If we can’t reschedule, at the least we will credit ticket holders with a voucher that will never expire so they can be used for any upcoming shows and, of course, we will refund anyone who cannot come. As I mentioned before, everyone I talked with yesterday was sweet and understanding. One person, who I was only able to leave a message for, said to just put his ticket in as a donation — as I said, we have the best patrons ever! Our YETI After School Acting classes will be treated the same way as our Moon Over Buffalo ticket holders: we will reschedule, issue vouchers that don’t expire or refund. Because we are a non-profit, if anyone chooses to donate the price of the tickets or the classes you will be able to use the entire amount as a tax deduction.
In the near future we will just take things day by day, like everyone else. My little sister drove down from Sioux Falls, SD on Tuesday to pick up her son who has been traveling with Up With People because they are cancelling their tour and he couldn’t fly home. She left before the snow hit, but still got stuck at a hotel in Kearney, NE because of rain and hail — at least they are safe. I am sure nearly everyone out there has similar stories. For now, take care of yourselves and take care of your loved ones. We will get through this together and, when we get to see each other again it will be all the sweeter for the time we have been apart. Be safe!
-Rory Pierce