Modesto’s Prospect Theater won’t let pandemic stop it from opening new season
Prospect Theater Project will take its 20th year virtual, delivering its first production of the season into people homes.
Live theater currently is shutdown in the region due to the coronavirus pandemic, so Prospect has decided “to find innovative ways to connect with their audience,” according to a press release.
Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” will be available for streaming Sept. 18-28.
This will be the first fully produced play presented digitally by Prospect. “Audience members will stream the show at their convenience, in the comfort of their own homes,” the release said.
“Happy Days” features two characters: Winnie, a woman of about 50, and Willie, a man of about 60. “The complex interplay between words and visual images finds the two caught up in repetition, the deadening impact of habit, the recurrence of trauma, and the recourse to familiar and reassuring words or phrases in the face of annihilation,” the press release said.
“Beckett often wrote about trauma and how we cope, or are unable to cope, with traumas,” Prospect’s Artistic Director Jack Souza said in the release. “After 7 months of dealing with a pandemic, looking to Beckett to offer perspective on our response to our circumstances was an easy choice.”
“Happy Days” is directed by Nick Zagone. The cast is made up of Carin J. Heidelbach as Winnie and Souza as Willie.
“The landscape of the play is a psychological setting; set more in the mind than a geographical location,” Souza said.
Prospect Theater Project is a nonprofit. The company recently held a fundraiser, bringing in about $12,000, according to a separate press release.
Called Benni’s Night at Prospect Theater Project, the event on Aug. 30 featured a drive-through dinner by chefs Christopher Bonora of Piccolo Benni’s and Paul Tremayne of Concetta.
Prospect Theater Board Member Sarah Aaronson called the pandemic “challenging” for the company in that press release but said they are finding new ways to connect with the community.
“This drive-through fundraiser is an example of the innovative ways we plan on keeping the theater alive during these unprecedented times,” she said in the release. “PTP will be hosting many of our productions online this year, so our patrons can stay safe while still enjoying the high-quality Prospect Theater Project shows they have grown to love.”
“Happy Days”
WHEN: Sept. 18-28
TICKETS: $20
ONLINE: prospecttheaterproject.org
CALL: 209-549-9341
