{"id":163607,"date":"2021-10-28T14:30:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T18:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/?p=163607"},"modified":"2021-10-27T17:01:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T21:01:40","slug":"theatre-ariel-returns-with-hybrid-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/theatre-ariel-returns-with-hybrid-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Ariel Returns with Hybrid Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Deborah Baer Mozes (Courtesy of Deborah Baer Mozes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Theatre Ariel will return for its 31st season on Oct. 30, but the upcoming season will be different from recent, pre-pandemic iterations.<\/p>\n

Instead of continuing the salon tradition of holding shows in people\u2019s living rooms, Theatre Ariel will host a pandemic-era hybrid schedule. For all four of its 2021-\u201922 plays, two performances are going to be staged in a public location, and two others will be staged over Zoom.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s not salon theater, the 2021-\u201922 schedule is still a step forward from its predecessor. When last season started, there was no approved vaccine for COVID-19. So, every performance took place on Zoom.<\/p>\n

Deborah Baer Mozes, the founding director of Theatre Ariel and a Philadelphia resident, said she was encouraged by the 2020-\u201921 schedule. People still paid for the Zoom performances.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s also excited to have those crowds back.<\/p>\n

Theatre Ariel describes itself as \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s only professional theatre dedicated to illuminating the social, cultural and spiritual heritage of the Jewish people,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really missed our audience,\u201d Baer Mozes said.<\/p>\n

The audience will be back, but it won\u2019t quite be the same.<\/p>\n

The pre-pandemic salon shows featured audiences of 55-60 people at most, and 25 at least, usually packed into a Main Line living room. But during the new season, the intimate living rooms will be replaced by various area locations, starting with the spacious sanctuary of Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley.<\/p>\n

Baer Mozes said Theatre Ariel members didn\u2019t want to host people in their homes during COVID.<\/p>\n

To maintain social distancing, crowd sizes at Har Zion will be limited to 40 people. Audience members must show proof of vaccination and wear masks. Actors and staff members also will be vaccinated, though actors won\u2019t wear masks on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make the experience as comfortable and safe as possible,\u201d Baer Mozes said.<\/p>\n

According to the director, Theatre Ariel is following the same Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as other theaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what most cultural organizations are following,\u201d she added. \u201cBroadway, theaters in Chicago, theaters in Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baer Mozes expects the audience to come back because of the theater\u2019s loyal following.<\/p>\n

Its regular crowd grew throughout the 2010s. So, when the pandemic hit, Baer Mozes and her board didn\u2019t hesitate to pivot to Zoom.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf started implementing lockdown measures on March 12, 2020. By March 25, Theatre Ariel was hosting its first virtual performance.<\/p>\n

The salon theater closed its 2019-\u201920 season in the digital space and held its entire 2020-\u201921 schedule there, too.<\/p>\n

Despite the change, pre-pandemic supporters continued to pay for tickets. But the Zoom plays had an unexpected benefit: opening Theatre Ariel to audiences outside the area.<\/p>\n

Word-of-mouth brought in people from New York City, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Canada and Israel, according to Baer Mozes. The director herself told a friend in St. Louis, who then told her own friends.<\/p>\n

Going into the new season, Baer Mozes and her board members understand how to stage plays on Zoom. The director considers both options, socially distanced in-person shows and virtual shows, to be viable moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I would say we\u2019re a hybrid theater,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some members said they loved being in people\u2019s homes, but they are excited about the new season and the hybrid possibility.<\/p>\n

Rory Michelle Sullivan, a city resident and Theatre Ariel supporter for three years, believes it\u2019s smart to do both. Some people really want to come together in person again \u2014 while Zoom can be more intimate than it seems.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see everybody on the Zoom boxes and talk to everyone at once,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Marci Wilf, a Wynnewood resident and the theater\u2019s co-president, explained that, while she enjoyed the salon atmosphere, she always enjoyed the experience because of the plays themselves, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plays are always evocative and interesting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s opening play is called \u201cCherry Docs,\u201d and it\u2019s about a Jewish lawyer who \u201cagrees to defend a skinhead accused of a vicious murder,\u201d according to a Theatre Ariel press release.<\/p>\n

Upcoming performances will feature \u201cThe Sabbath Girl,\u201d a romantic comedy about a hip art curator who meets an Orthodox Jewish man, and \u201cThe Wanderers,\u201d a comedy about two couples, one Chasidic and the other secular, who share more than they realize.<\/p>\n

To learn more about attending shows, visit thetheatreariel.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came through the pandemic through the support of our members,\u201d Baer Mozes said. \u201cThis year is going to be telling in terms of how successful we are with the hybrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theatre Ariel will return for its 31st season on Oct. 30, but the upcoming season will be different from recent, pre-pandemic iterations. Instead of continuing the salon tradition of holding shows in people\u2019s living rooms, Theatre Ariel will host a pandemic-era hybrid schedule. For all four of its 2021-\u201922 plays, two performances are going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13404,"featured_media":163608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,18,8],"tags":[13436,10240],"section":[],"coauthors":[13277],"yoast_head":"\nTheatre Ariel Returns with Hybrid Performances - Jewish Exponent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/theatre-ariel-returns-with-hybrid-performances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Theatre Ariel Returns with Hybrid Performances - Jewish Exponent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Theatre Ariel will return for its 31st season on Oct. 30, but the upcoming season will be different from recent, pre-pandemic iterations. 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