Astor Theatre Won’t Reopen Until Fall

Photo Credit: Astor Theatre

The Astor Theatre won’t open its doors until at least September.

The move was made in response to the precautions being taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The theatre’s board of directors made the announcement on their Facebook page Monday morning.

Board Chair Kristopher Snarby says uncertainty around when restrictions would be lifted to allow large groups to gather once again ultimately led to the decision to keep the doors closed.

“Given the nature of what we do with a 350 seat theatre. We just realized there’s no point in doing a week by week evaluation at this point because we know that there’s no way we’ll be able to open until the fall at the earliest. And even that, we still really have no idea when we’ll be able to open up again.”

When gatherings are permitted again, Snarby says opening the Astor to admit a smaller number of people could happen by getting creative with the seating.

“But then the challenge also becomes whether or not it’s cost effective and if we can pay the bills by doing that. There’s just so many unknowns right now.”

He says despite having to close for the pandemic, the theatre is on solid financial ground. It has just received one grant and the board is pursuing others.

Snarby says the board is discussing what can be done to keep live theatre alive in Liverpool while they’re closed.

He says they are batting around the idea of live-streaming one-man shows or other performances online similar to the one the Astor’s technical director Jonathon Paterson performed last month.

Snarby says the main goal is to ensure the theatre is healthy and ready to reopen once they’re informed it is safe to do so.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson