At the Shaw Festival, the shows are not going on, of course. It was no surprise when the well-regarded Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., repertory theatre company announced last week that it would be cancelling all public events and performances through May 25.
“But having an opportunity to continue with the artistic side of things, to be able to step away from the news, it’s a real blessing.” “We’re stretching all our resources to keep everyone employed,” executive director Tim Jennings said, over the phone from his second-floor home office, while his wife, a cutter-draper at the festival, worked away on costumes in the basement.
But the theatre company – the second-largest not-for-profit one in Ontario after the Stratford Festival – is not unaware that it may soon have to cancel 2020 performances well beyond May 25 and that the current rehearsals could be for shows that never make it to the stage. A wait-and-see approach means that Jennings and Carroll are making their decisions based on the latest information – and the information from public-health officials and government does keep changing radically day to day. On Monday, for instance, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear that the federal government’s recently announced 75-per-cent wage subsidy would be available to charities and non-profit organizations, not just businesses – and that it will be backdated to March 15.