Page 1 - Boca Club News - August '20

An Independent Newspaper Serving Broken Sound & Bocaire

VOL. 14 NO. 8 www.seabreezepublications.com AUGUST 2020

What South Florida

Theater Will Look Like

When It Re-opens

The readers of Boca Club News are avid supporters of live theater in Boca and throughout
South Florida, which is why we have covered news of each season’s productions of the latest
dramas, musicals and comedies in a timely manner, so that you can make your ticket plans
as far in advance as possible.
More recently, however, with the coronavirus darkening the lights and closing the
doors of so many kinds of businesses, we thought it a good idea to check on the status of
the area’s live theater, and had planned to research the matter when we came across an
article on a very popular and excellent website that had already done just that! With the
permission of its author, Bill Hirschman, we are sharing his wonderfully informative and
comprehensive article here with the readers of Boca Club News. First, by way of introduction
Courtesy of the Boca Raton Museum of Art and the artist to Mr. Hirschman:

South Florida’s best kept secret is its status as one of
Boca Raton Museum of the most fertile and expansive homes for regional theater
in the country. To provide lovers of theater with a full and
Art Presents New Video Art up-to-date picture of all that’s available, Bill Hirschman
and his colleagues created Florida Theater On Stage, an
online arts journalism website that includes reviews of
Installation: “Solitary Acts” nearly every professional production from Vero Beach to
Homestead plus breaking news stories, features and, as
seen below, in-depth features analyzing the past, present
by Janet Biggs and in this case, the future of theater in South Florida. The
site (www.floridatheateronstage.com ) has operated nearly
a decade with 1.5 million pageviews from a half-million
Inaugurates one of the Museum’s Newest different people. Hirschman has been a professional journalist in Florida, his native
New York, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas since 1966. He began reviewing theater for
Architectural Renovations: the Wolgin the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1998 and his work has appeared in Variety, American
Theatre magazine, Playbill.com, the Sondheim Review and the Miami Herald. He is the
Education Center former chairman of the executive committee of the American Theatre Critics’ Association
and currently treasurer of its foundation.
The Boca Raton Museum of Art recently unveiled Phase III of its architectural renovations Actors and audience will be separated by a minimum of 16 feet. Musicians in the pit may
with the debut of the new Wolgin Education Center, which features major new art installations. be separated by sneeze guards. Staff will ensure that only a specific number of patrons will
One of these new works of art is the video installation “Solitary Acts,” by Janet Biggs, which be allowed in restrooms and elevators at the same time. And everyone, virtually everyone
will be on exhibit through September 27th. coming into a theater for any reason will be required to have their temperature taken.
“Solitary Acts” is presented as a large-scale projection on the wall. This exhibition is As a handful of local venues gingerly tried to reopen in recent weeks and others prepare
made possible with the support of the Museum’s Leadership Donors. plans for the future, a regimen of detailed protocols ranging from parking to popcorn to
The Museum’s new Wolgin Education Center takes prominence at the entry to the Museum Playbills is emerging in documents that define what performing arts events in South Florida
with full exposure to Mizner Park and visitors passing the Museum. In 2001, the space was may look like for customers, artists, staff and vendors when theaters can reopen fully.
named the Wolgin Auditorium in recognition of a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Sidney At two venues that had already opened, bathroom attendants at the Wick Theatre in
Wolgin and Dr. and Mrs. William Wolgin to support the original construction. Boca Raton cleaned after every patron’s use, and a staffer at The Foundry in Wilton Manors
Recently, three generations of Wolgins, including Mrs. Sidney Wolgin, Dr. William Wolgin, passed an ultraviolet scanner across every seat before and after a performance.
Shelley Wolgin Gold and Jeffrey Gold, and Andrea and Daniel Wolgin, together provided a Such measures are listed in online videos and documents seeking county governments’
seed gift of $50,000 to support ongoing programming for the new multi-purpose space. With blessings— outlines that can be as succinct as a single-spaced coronavirus-prevention
their gift, the Museum created the 70th Anniversary Education Fund. Donations to the fund blueprint about a page long for the tiny Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale.
will purchase state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment to enliven award-winning programs, But others are comprehensive and exhaustive. Fantasy Theater Factory at the Sandrell
lectures, and film screenings. Contributions will support program expenses, including our Rivers Theater in Miami submitted a 35-page multi-color brochure with copious photos
education mornings when 5,000 students each year learn the art of looking and making. of steps already taken. The Arsht Center’s game plan is 68 pages of recommendations in
This second phase of architectural renovations, completed in June 2020, positions the small type and detailed seating charts. Its list and that of the Broward Center still being
Museum as a fresh cultural landmark in downtown Boca Raton, and as a more vital educational developed are based on a 52-page report from a national Performing Arts Center Consortium
resource for the whole community. The generosity and commitment of the Museum’s patrons (PACC) committee that involved representatives from the Broward Center, Arsht and led
make possible these key projects. by the Straz Center in Tampa.
Across the region, administrators are planning how to make their venues as safe a haven
Boca Raton Museum of Art Presents on page 4 as possible from the coronavirus that shuttered every house and crippled their budgets. Their
hope is to protect patrons and staffers, but also to persuade customers that it is relatively
safe to sit in an enclosed space with dozens or even hundreds of other people.
None are planning full-scale productions in the immediate future; those that were open
recently have shut back down for a few weeks in the wake of the current virus spike. Their
offerings were revues, cabarets and a film series, not Shakespeare. But the restrictions,
accommodations and safety measures are expected to be the same when they begin to
present more traditional fare. “We’ve decided to take the lemons we’ve been given and
make as much lemonade as possible,” said Larry Fields, executive artistic director at
Fantasy Theater Factory, which manages the Sandrell Rivers Theater.

What South Florida Theater Will Look Like on page 3