This is the Fifty-Sixth article in a permanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American.
The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
In the early Spring, March, 2020 to be exact, the world shut down. Events that were expected to host large number of attendees were postponed and eventually cancelled.
Public schools, sports events, church services, rodeos, county fairs, movie theatres, concerts, recitals, and play performances, some events that had been regularly scheduled and recurring through World Wars, depressions and recessions were cancelled due to the Covid-19 Virus.
Now, as we enter the cooler temperatures of Fall and some activities have returned in a socially distant fashion; church services, outdoor sports events and public school classes, the question remains; will the arts return to Lincoln County?
The answer is a resounding yes!
However, it will take time, and the Arts Presentation will have to be altered.
For Stroud Arts, we will not be using our home at 214 West Main Street as this space is a very intimate, twenty-five foot by fifty foot performance space, for audience attended performances.
To make our audience and cast safer, we will be focusing on using larger venues, both indoor and outdoor spaces, where our cast and audience can be a bit spread out. Think large auditorium versus intimate studio space.
I also know that the award-winning community theatre of the year, Lincoln County On Stage is making renovations to their Theatre home in Chandler, OK to allow socially distant seating as they prepare for reopening soon with the 2020-2021 Theatre Season.
Please follow both of these organizations, Stroud Arts and Lincoln County On Stage, on Facebook and in the Stroud American to keep up with their performance schedules as they are released.
For upcoming activities, Stroud Arts is preparing our Seasonal Escape Room for the end of October. We will be opening registration next week and will not be accepting walk up participants. This will allow our team to sanitize the space before and after the event and keep the group size at 4-6 participants to lessen the potential for Covid-19 spread.
We are also planning to host a Zombie Walk during the Chamber of Commerce Annual Trick or Treat on Main Street. More details will be revealed as we work out the particulars.
The Arts are coming back to Lincoln County… it just takes time to…
Make Art Happen!