CenterStage Postponed: Drama season to resume in new building

By Lee Chottiner
Community Editor

CenterStage will have to wait to build on the success of its season-opening production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Erin Jump, program director of arts & ideas at the Jewish Community Center, has announced the next CenterStage production, Falsettos, has been postponed until next year – after the theatrical company has moved to the new Trager Family JCC.
She couldn’t pinpoint an exact dates of the shows, but the move to the new building is currently expected to take place in February.
Until then, Jump said, the prospect of holding another outdoor production, like CenterStage did for Joseph, as the weather gets colder was simply ruled out.
“Just the unknowns of moving into the fall and winter with COVID, and of course keeping everyone safe,” were factors in the decision, Jump said, “and respecting the creative time of all the artists.”
Additionally, Jump couldn’t say how long or involved the move and set-up of all theatrical equipment – lighting, sound, staging – will be.
“What does the move-in look like with all our equipment?” Jump asked. “Our cast and crew are committed to making this happen, so we want to make sure everyone currently involved has aligned schedules so we can continue all at once.”
CenterStage won’t go totally dark. Jump said that CenterStage Academy, the after-school theatrical program for grades 3 to 8, will still stage its December production Aladdin Jr. in the old JCC space.
“We’re monitoring COVID restrictions and best practices,” she said. “Fortunately, we have the right to stream the production; that’s something we don’t have with Falsettos.”)
She also said that the CenterStage hopes to organize a send-off for its old space sometime in January before the move to the new JCC.
“We’re hopeful to have everyone come together and wish the old space a fond adieu,” Jump said, “but the next production will be in the new space.”
She promised that CenterStage’s first production in its new home will be memorable.
“We have an enthusiastic cast and crew who are really excited to be a part of it, when it happens,” Jump said.

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