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Date: 8/30/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – After nearly a year of halted shows and productions, the Black Cat Theater in South Hadley is ready to begin performing once again.
President Richard Matteson recalled performances prior to the pandemic. The theater company, which was established in 1986, was originally called the South Hadley Community Theater. He said in 2006 the board made the decision to change their name to Black Cat Theater and were officially granted 501C status in 2020.
Matteson called the group a “true community theater.” He said, “We encourage people of all ages and abilities that have an interest in theater to be involved. We don’t have membership per-say, we have a board of directors, but are open to anyone who wants to walk in.”
He continued to explain, “We used to perform at the South Hadley High School, we do not have our own theater, we’ve been performing there for years. They’ve been wonderful to us.”
Matteson said it is his understanding that not owning property was intentional as it can make productions more costly. “We try to keep our ticket prices low, so lots of people can come to the show. We’re not out to make money,” he said.
Prior to COVID-19 impacting Western Massachusetts and causing the theater to halt productions in 2020, Matteson said they were gearing up for a show. “We had to cancel, we were well into rehearsal. The show we were going to do was a youth show, “Frozen Junior,” that was to go up the first weekend of April,” he said. “The pandemic hit mid-March, so we had to cancel. The kids were devastated, obviously.”
Matteson added they were forced to cancel a small cast production that was planned for June 2020. “We pulled the plug on that as well. The main reason was the pandemic, but we couldn’t have done it anyway because the high school wouldn’t have let us in, they were shut down too,” he said. “We were basically on hold at that point.”
He continued, “Like so much of the world, we kind of shut down. We didn’t even try, by the time the schools opened it would have been impossible for us to pull anything together.”
Now, as restrictions have been lifted, Matteson said they were once again preparing for a new show. “We’re, at this point in time, about to interview for a director of a show. Customarily in fall we’ve done a big musical,” he said. However, this year, they would not host a musical, but instead a small-cast show.
“We tried not to attempt a musical, singing is one of those things, a major spreader of the virus,” he said. “So we’re doing a 10-person cast, adult comedy. We chose a small cast, it was intentional. We’re doing a show called ‘Play On.’”
Matteson said they will host auditions in September for the production, after a director was hired. “The only thing that may change, usually we do closed auditions where we have one person on stage at a time. The only thing that might possibly change is we may have to require masks for auditions,” he said.
He added one decision still facing the group was whether or not to require vaccinations, which was a difficult decision to navigate. “One thing we haven’t talked about is vaccination status. Another organization I’m involved in have a by and large policy that only vaccinated people can participate,” he said. “It’s kind of a little tricky to do that, but it’s for the health and well being of everyone who’s involved. The decision will definitely be made before auditions.”
He said at the time of press, the group had permission to perform at the high school, however, that may change prior to the next scheduled performance. “We did get permission from the superintendent of schools. They are allowing outside groups in, that’s a good thing if that doesn’t change,” he said.
Matteson went on to say that despite being based in South Hadley, the group welcomed people from all over. “We have people from all over the Valley. Obviously we have a number of South Hadley residents. We’re happy to have anybody join us, become part of the Black Cat family,” he said.
Those interested in auditioning for a production, learning more or who may have a questions should visit the company’s website at http://blackcattheater.pbworks.com/w/page/6506028/FrontPage, their Facebook page or email blackcattheater@gmail.com.