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June 2020

Live Theater and Covid-19

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Live theater has been drastically affected by the pandemic and Beale Street Theater has seen the impact . Our production of “The Sound of Music” has been postponed for now. How do we produce live theater when we can’t have large gatherings? We need the income to pay our mortgage and continue our renovation plans for the theater building.

One solution we are moving forward with is using outdoor venues. We now have two productions planned for the stage area at Metcalfe Park. Social distancing can be done there and the spread of the virus is less likely in the open air setting. We are also looking forward to our annual Kingman Historic Ghost Tours. These tours are held outside, on the city streets of downtown Kingman with small groups of attendees being led from place to place to hear stories of Kingman’s history. Last year we added more theatrical aspects to the tour and plan to up that for this coming October.

As for the indoor venues, we are looking at producing smaller, inexpensive shows that allow for limited audience sizes.

We want all of our patrons to feel safe in the environments we create. We will do our best to keep our facilities clean and sanitized. Use of masks are encouraged in areas where physical distancing is difficult. Feel free to reach out to us with any concerns you may have and we will make accommodations where we can. Our volunteers and employees are encouraged to look for creative solutions to the difficult problems we all currently face.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for upcoming events as we continue to bring live theater to the Kingman community.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged Back for One Weekend ONLY!

After a period of COVID-19 shutdowns of all non-essential organizations, Beale Street Theater is open once again and back to finish what they started in the spring.

            The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged by Adam Long, Daniel Singer & Jess Winfield is set to perform for one weekend only! On June 25 and 26, director Bob Blake and cast will be performing at 7pm both nights at Metcalf Park, 315 W Beale Street. Black Bridge Brewery will still be selling Shakespeare-themed beer during the show in support of the theater!

For anyone late to the party, this show is a satirical summary of every Shakespeare work, including that of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Though satirical, the show also nods at Shakespeare respectfully, for we could not make fun of him if he didn’t write so many ridiculous pieces.

The show will still be performed on the stage at Metcalf Park with a minimal set designed specifically to be portable to and from the venue. The costumes are obnoxious and silly and, yes, Lucas will still be a woman most of the time—we wouldn’t be true to the time period if he wasn’t! Lucas will actually be traveling back from his home in Minnesota to finish the show for Kingman, so keep a lookout for his travel videos these next couple weeks!

Beale Street Theater’s presentation of this comedic work is a great way to take the city’s mind off the worrisome events unfolding around the world. We are also taking great care to minimize any issues COVID might cause. Performing in the park will give the audience an open-air venue to promote social distancing. The theater also recommends that audience members bring their own chairs to minimize any cross-contaminations of the virus. Among these precautions, the theater is taking many others to ensure safety of volunteers and audiences alike.

Beale Street Theater greatly appreciates your support towards local businesses and non-profit organizations. Come out and support the Beale Street Theater and Black Bridge Brewery—have a pint and laugh your pantaloons off!

Tickets are $12 per person and are on sale online at https://bealestreettheater.com//tickets/ or at the gates before the show.

To further support Beale Street Theater, donations can be made at the show or online at https://bealestreettheater.com//donate/

 As Shakespeare once said, “We put the fun in dysfunctional.” ….or was that Green Day?

BST Renovation News

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The Stage

One of the options brought for us to consider is a removeable stage. As the room we have can only accommodate so many seats, this is an option we can use to make the facility more functional for multi purpose needs. We wouldn’t be moving the whole stage in an out of course, just the front part of it. This would give us the stage space to produce live theater shows with an audience of approximately 300 seats but when we have concerts, movies and entertainment that can use a smaller stage, we can up our seat count to around 350-360.

From a business standpoint, the more seats the more money you can make on a show. When a theater shows a movie, they pay a set royalty fee to show a particular film. Royalty costs differ depending on the popularity of the movie. The theater then decides if they can sell enough seats to cover the cost of the royalty fee and facility costs.

For live theater plays, royalties are determined by the number of seats available for a particular show, how many performances are being offered and the ticket price being charged. The licensing company then comes up with an amount the producing company needs to pay for each show they do. Again, the more seats we can sell equals higher profit for us on our shows.

Lastly is the cost to bring outside produced entertainment into the theater. These are live theater shows, entertainers or concerts that are produced elsewhere and then taken on a specific tour route through the country. An agent will contact venues such as the Beale Street Theater that are on their tour route to book performance days that fit their tour schedule. The theater and agent will then negotiate terms of a contract that includes ticket prices or facility rental fees, etc. Again, the more seats available the potential for more profit for both the production and the theater.

The drawbacks to the removeable stage is the work needed to take it and the chairs in and out of the facility. And where do we store the chairs and stage pieces when they aren’t being used? We are already limited on space in the building. We will look at all of our options as we make this decision.