Managing Artistic Director's
2020-2021 Season Annual Report
Season Overview
Perseverance and adapting.
Those are the words that come to mind when looking back at the past season. This has been a challenging and difficult year for Community Players and the performing arts sector as a whole. Thanks to the support of our community, the dedication of the Board of Directors, and the wiliness of our volunteers and staff to roll with each new challenge were able to stay active and find unexpected opportunities. The biggest highlight of the season was the fact we produced live in-person programming (with virtual options) that maintained strict safety protocols for both volunteers and patrons. Some of the other highlights for the season are:
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- Adaptive programming. Shifted regular season programming to smaller scale shows allowing us to produce scripts that we would not have considered otherwise. This included solo shows like “Say Goodnight Gracie” and “Love, Linda” and offering a series of Readers Theatre productions to provide more opportunities to performers.
- Creative reuse. To the cheers of our set volunteers, we adapted programming to utilize a single primary scenic design for most of the season. This kept production costs down and let us facilitate some fast turnaround times in the latter half of the season.
- Virtual content. Whenever we could get the rights we recorded our productions and offered them to patrons for on-demand streaming. We also created exclusive online content such as our virtual New Year’s Eve celebration. This also necessitated purchasing new video equipment.
- National grant. Was one of only a handful of small businesses, and the only one in Nebraska to receive a grant from Main Street America to assist with COVID mitigation efforts.
- Facility updates. Many long-term building projects were addressed. Among the projects were reorganizing the prop storage area, acquiring off-site storage for scenic materials, beginning an online inventory system, and most notably a remodel of the greenroom/dressing rooms.
- Community impact. Board and staff engaged in serious conversations and evaluation of organization with focus on fostering an inclusive, diverse, and responsive environment.
- Funding. We received a record amount of grant and government funding this season including PPP and other pandemic-related relief funds. We have a variety of applications currently pending which, if successful, will have substantially positive impact on the organization.
LOOKING AHEAD
Next season will be my 25th year helping guide Community Players. Despite, or maybe because of, the challenges of the past year I have never been more excited about the potential things we will accomplish next season. We will return to big name big cast productions, we will be enhancing our community engagement efforts, we will be bringing to conclusion several long-term goals and projects. None of this will be possible without the involvement from all parts of the community.
Jamie Ulmer
Managing Artistic Director
