The curtain will rise on May 28 at Bedford Playhouse
after it was closed for over a
year due to the pandemic.
Executive Director
Michael Hoagland believes they’re ready to reopen to the public.
"We're ready for it. I think our community is,”
says Hoagland. “We've had a lot of calls from senior citizens who call us and say, 'I've been vaccinated, when
can I come back to the movies?'"
The popular theater
reopened briefly in October before shutting down three weeks later, when COVID-19 numbers
increased.
"We
have been able to survive on donations up to this point, which has been great
because we have an amazing community,” says Hoagland. “But it’s been tough, has
been a long winter."
The theater will operate at 33%
capacity when it reopens the Friday before Memorial Day.
Safety
protocols include mandatory face mask usage and ordering tickets ahead of
showtime. A new cleaning procedure was also implemented.
"At the beginning of the day, the entire facility
gets cleaned. As soon as the theater
gets loaded, the entire facility gets cleaned again,” says Hoagland.
In
the summer months, theatre officials tell News 12 entertainment will be offered
outdoors with pop-up movies on a big screen. Outdoor concerts are also on the
schedule.
"We're
doing concert series outside, we’re doing a Broadway in Bedford series starting
in May,” says Hoagland.
News
12 is told the in-house restaurant reopened on April 2.