After what produces say was a successful preview on Feb. 7, Olympic Theatre Arts’ production of the American classic “Death of a Salesman” was trounced by snowfall.
The production team, cast and staff at OTA decided, however, to shift their season to accommodate a complete restart of the show run.
Opening night has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 1. The show will run for three weekends as initially planned, but are now scheduled for the first three weekends in March.
Opening weekend is March 1-3, followed by productions Thursday-Sunday, March 7-10, and Thursday-Sunday, March 14-17.
Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.
On Thursday, March 7, OTA hosts a traditional “Pay What You Will” show at 7:30 p.m. — an opportunity for theatre fans to enjoy the show at whatever price suits their budgets.
Thursday, March 14 is “Talk Back Night” when the performance starts at 6:30 p.m. to provide time after the show for audience members to engage in conversations with the cast and crew after the play.
Tickets are $18 for the general public, $16 for OTA members and $12 for students with school ID, and are available online at olympictheatrearts.org or the theater box office from 1-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Call 360-683-7326.
Production Manager Lorra Cornetet sees the delay as a positive opportunity.
“I’m always an optimist — this is a chance to make a great play even better,” Cornetet said. “We can give everything an even finer polish — nuances in the lighting design, character work … everything can get even better.”
Said director Merv Wingard, “I think we’re going to be quite successful when we get going on it again.”
Wingard said he intends to take advantage of the extra time to address some feedback given by preview guests.
Actors will also need the hiatus from the reset to get back into their performances after being forced away from the stage by the weather.
“I don’t know exactly at what time the lines start to leak out of your head, but they haven’t leaked out of mine yet,” said Joel Hoffman, who plays the lead role of Willy Loman and has been living in a motel in Sequim because of the storm.
Hoffman said he is happy with the solution of resetting the run.
“We had gotten the show right up to performance levels. We’d worked really hard for about three or four months, and then to have it just stop was very disappointing,” he said. “We’re going to have three or four run-throughs before opening, and I think that’s all we’ll need to get it back up to speed.”
The season’s next play in line for OTA, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” has been moved to July to keep OTA’s next Main Stage musical, “First Date,” on schedule for the end of April.
OTA office staff has been calling patrons since the decision was made to inform them of the changes.
“People have been really glad to hear from us,” said volunteer coordinator Zaira Aahz, who also has to re-wrangle a considerable staff of theatre volunteers such as ushers and bartenders.
“We’ve been getting understanding and even grateful responses from patrons,” Aahz said.
