Two neighboring Central Arkansas arts organizations announced the cancellations of their seasons within minutes of each other Monday afternoon.
Effective immediately, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s board of directors has indefinitely suspended all programming activities, including productions, events and educational offerings.
And Ballet Arkansas said they would be postponing its Master/Works showcase to a date within its 2020-21 season, and canceling altogether its interactive performances of Snow White, all to have taken place April 24-26. Ballet administrators cited “the health and safety of our dancers, staff and community.”
Associate Artistic Director Catherine Fothergill said the ballet company would continue to pay its 15 company dancers and its staff "through the duration of their contracts."
The two organizations face one another catty-corner across the intersection of West Sixth and Main streets along Little Rock's so-called Creative Corridor.
At the Rep, the suspension includes canceling the summer production of the musical Bye Bye Birdie, all summer education programs and the 2020-21 season that would have begun in September. The theater had previously canceled its production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and its annual "Saints & Sinners" fundraising gala.
Rep board chairwoman Ruth Shepherd cited in a news release “the significant negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak” among the determining factors, noting that it “has had a significant, negative impact on the Rep’s two sources of income: ticket sales and donations.”
“We’re one of many local, small businesses who’ve been forced to shut their doors,” added Executive Artistic Director Will Trice. “Without public gatherings, we can’t create nor sell tickets to our shows. We’re also a non-profit organization that is even more dependent on donations from corporations and individual supporters, who are themselves affected by the stalled economy and volatility in the stock market.”
The theater has been fighting its way back from a closure that lasted from April 2018 to the November 2018 announcement of a short, four-show 2019 season, followed by a 2020-21 season that was to put the theater back up on its feet. “And we simply don’t have the resources to weather this storm and fully rebound in the near-term,” Trice said.
Shepherd said the board “will use this time to strategically plan for reopening of the Rep, as conditions permit, under a sustainable business model.”
Ballet Arkansas, meanwhile, has been offering “At Home” online programming, including a series called “Encore” (balletarkansas.org/encore), screening Ballet Arkansas performances for free on Saturday and Sunday and a new series of online dance classes (balletarkansas.org/learn-from-home).