COVID-19 creates challenges for Sheridan’s WYO Theater

In response to COVID-19 restrictions, Sheridan’s WYO Theater closed last March and, in fact, still hasn’t yet completely opened.

WYO Executive Director Erin Butler said, for example, the WYO box office hasn’t yet opened to the public.

Butler said the summer streaming series went fairly well. She said audience numbers were quite small, but the series provided a chance to learn how to manage groups of people in the WYO during the COVID-19 pandemic and what precautions should, and can, be managed. She said the streaming technology and streaming capability has been a great addition.

Moving forward, she said, this fall will be different from years past.

She said the National Theater Live presentations will also continue.

She said the hope is that, starting in January, the WYO will be able to ramp up a little more. She said she’s also excited to have Sheridan College back having classes in the theater.

She said currently the WYO is doing a little over half of what would be done during a normal year, but fulfilling the WYO’s mission to provide events for people in Sheridan has been a balancing act.

Butler said the theater closed its doors to the public on March 18, and the first event offered at the theater to an actual audience was on July 9. But, she said, nothing being offered at the WYO at this time at anywhere near the normal audience capacity.

She said the box office will be opened to the public starting on Sept. 2.