The Broadway Theatre starts temporary COVID closure

The Broadway Theatre started a temporary closure on Friday in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatoon.

“We want to have a strong future but in order to have that, we need to do the right thing in the short term,” Artistic and Executive Director Kirby Wirchenko said.

Through the pandemic the theatre has often led the way for COVID restrictions.

It cut capacity and made masks mandatory following the spring lockdown and well before it was mandated by the provincial government and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

“I don’t mind being ahead of the curve on this,” Wirchenko said. “I’d rather us be ahead of the government and the health authority and do more than they’re demanding.”

With COVID cases trending upward recently he believes this is the best decision to keep neighbours, customers and staff as safe as possible.

“I don’t think we’re special or genius people. I think we’re just trying our best to do the best we can with what we’ve got,” he said.

The theatre will remain closed until at least Jan. 4, 2021 when the situation will be reassessed.

Reaction to the closure is generally positive on the theatre’s social media pages, Wirchenko says most people understand it’s for the best.

With a vaccine set to arrive in Saskatchewan as soon as next week he believes it’s not the time to let your guard down yet and is planning for a slow return to normal.

“My best hope is that sometime between April and June, maybe, we’ll be able to get back to the capacity we were at in the fall which was a total of 110 seats,” he said.

Until then staff are working with performers and booking agents to reschedule what they can.

They’ll continue using the marquee to spread hopeful messages often with a bit of humour.

Right now it reads “I must stop this Christmas from coming, but how?” from Dr. Seuss’ the Grinch.