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For Elizabeth Allers, the nickname “theater in a mall” started out as a phrase that CNY Playhouse company members would use as a joke. But the community theater company has now embraced the phrase, especially since the group has produced larger, complicated shows and those with special effects.

“It would be like, ‘Wow, look what we can accomplish as a theater in a mall,’” said Allers, CNY Playhouse’s board treasurer and marketing coordinator. “I think that we all felt really proud that, as a company, we were still able to grow and do really cool stuff even though we were just in a renovated storefront in a mall.”

The group’s regular performance space has been in ShoppingTown Mall, located on Erie Boulevard in DeWitt, for the past eight years. But in late September, ShoppingTown Mall’s owner gave its tenants 30 days to vacate their spaces. CNY Playhouse has since moved out of the mall and relocated to a storage facility while it searches for a new home.

The CNY Playhouse board members anticipated the group would relocate to a new stage toward the end of the calendar year, but the 30-day notice expedited that process. Within the past eight years, anchor stores such as Macy’s and JCPenney, as well as smaller stores, have closed or relocated from ShoppingTown Mall. The mall filed for bankruptcy in January.

The playhouse met it’s initial fundraising goal of $3,000 with the support of loyal theater-goers.
Sarah Lee | Asst. Photo Editor

The theater group announced its relocation in a press release, stating that it’s accepting donations from patrons and members of the general public. Along with monetary donations, the group has received help in the form of storage space.

Because of the support from the community, CNY Playhouse President Abel Searor is hopeful for the theater company’s future.

“One of the decisions that we had to weigh was, ‘Does CNY Playhouse have a life after COVID?’ And it would seem that the community is telling us that they hope that we do,” Searor said.

With the support of loyal theater-goers, the group met its initial fundraising goal of $3,000 in a short amount of time, said Kate Crawford, CNY Playhouse board secretary. But due to the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic and the volunteer nature of the group, CNY Playhouse may need to set another fundraising goal, Crawford said.

CNY Playhouse is completely volunteer-based, Searor said. There isn’t a set number of actors, as the group has both lost people over the years to new jobs and marriages and has welcomed in new people.

Like most theater companies, CNY Playhouse had to shut down in-person shows, including “The Matchmaker” by Thornton Wilder, due to the pandemic. The group’s production of Wilder’s play was successful on its opening weekend, which took place prior to the state shutdown.

The theater group had a “really great season planned for 2020,” but that won’t happen due to COVID-19, Searor said.

The group created a virtual cabaret show during the summer to try and raise viewers’ spirits. Two musicians, who had worked with the Playhouse before and were skilled in multi-track recording, headed the cabaret and produced about six virtual shows. The group is considering whether to host additional installments of the series in the near future.

But as the pandemic continued into the summer, the company’s board saw that people were mainly interested in doing activities that involved going outside to public spaces, such as parks, while practicing social distancing.

“While the weather has been nice, people haven’t really been interested in watching a virtual performance. They want to get out while they can,” Crawford said.

Having to be creative with performances has encouraged new members to explore creative avenues they normally would not have, Crawford said. In the past, CNY Playhouse used the space in ShoppingTown Mall for all its programming.

At its new location, the company will implement the COVID-19 plans they were planning to put in place at ShoppingTown, Searor said.

The ShoppingTown Mall filed for bankruptcy in January, causing businesses like the CNY Playhouse to have to find new residences. Sarah Lee | Asst. Photo Editor

“This move has placed us in a position where we have the time to look for a space that really is viable and sustainable for us,” Searor said. “We’re able to carefully think through what the structure of that space will look like in terms of safety protocols and what kinds of things we want to be able to do when it’s safe to do them again.”

The company has been looking into audio reinforcements for spoken word performances and musical numbers to perform while maintaining public health protocols, Searor said. The group has also considered the possibility of performing with smaller casts and socially-distanced audiences.

The “3 x 10 Virtual Play Festival,” an event that features three 10-minute productions, raised donations on Thursday for CNY Playhouse’s moving process, the group said in a press release.

“The public has been very kind,” Searor said. “This has always sort of been like the little theater that could.”

Published on October 26, 2020 at 9:06 pm