April 24, 2020 A Letter from Jonathan Fox, Artistic Director
Dear ETC Community,
During this COVID Era (and I’m guessing that future generations will mark this period with some similar designation), time seems to move slowly even as things change rapidly, as though we’re living in a reality governed by time-lapse photography. In the short month since the entire world shut down, we have had to postpone our productions of American Son and Tenderly, as well as our fundraising event to support our education programs, The Great American Songbook. We continue to look forward to a time when we’ll be able to share those experiences with you.
At the same time, we’ve been considering ways in which to adapt to a virtual world (which is virtually impossible for an art form that relies on actors to be in intimate proximity to each other and to the audience, whose energy feeds the performance). We’ll be in touch with you quite a bit over the next months with news and online content. Zoom and streaming can never really replace the true theatrical experience, so we know we will be back. Live theater is so important to our community, and I am honored to be ETC’s artistic director.
This is the time of year that we normally announce our next season. But because there is still so much uncertainty, we are delaying an announcement until mid-May when we hope to have a clearer path into the future. But I can tell you that John Tufts, one of Santa Barbara’s favorite actors, is scheduled to be part of next season.
I look forward to seeing you all again when it’s safe. Stay healthy, and thank you for your support!
Jonathan Fox
Artistic Director