Shadowbox Live is kicking off opening weekend with a show that might be familiar to Columbus theatergoers as Legends From Liverpool reopens this Thursday, May 20, and Friday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m., according to Wilson. Credit: Courtesy of Nicholas Wilson
Shadowbox Live is ready to share live theatre with the Columbus community once again as the venue reopens its doors this weekend.
Following its May 6 virtual crowdfunding event, “Setting the Stage,” Shadowbox Live — a Columbus-based performance arts venue and cafe located at 503 S. Front St. #260 — will welcome patrons back in for live shows, starting with “Legends From Liverpool” Thursday and “Let’s Get it On” Saturday, Stacie Boord, CEO of Shadowbox Live, said.
“After a year of shutdown and rediscovering who we are or what we want to do — especially within the midst of a pandemic — we were really able to look at our performances and how we perform on the stage as kind of a catalyst of change,” Nicholas Wilson, assistant director of education and dance captain at Shadowbox Live, said.
Originally, the plan was to reopen to the public in March, but they kept pushing the date back, Boord said.
“It really came down to comfort level,” Boord said. “We felt a little bit more at ease opening when vaccines rolled out. It was more about protecting our staff than anything else.”
Wilson said “Setting the Stage” was a fundraiser that included four pre-recorded, high-energy performances and discussions about how to improve the live arts experience, integrate video into more productions and renovate their old stage.
“This was really in preparation to get our audiences excited about us returning to the stage,” Wilson said. “There’s so many things changing the world, so ‘Setting the Stage’ kind of thought about a rebuilding and reimagining what our stage will look like physically, and as performers and how we use the stage.”
Boord said hosting a virtual reopening before running in-person shows felt like the best and safest option to reach more people.
“We had, I think, 300 tune in,” Boord said. “In our theatre, we could never serve that. That’s 300 households, times that by two if they’re watching it with somebody, and you’ve already sold out two to three shows at full capacity.”
Boord said Shadowbox Live raised $15,000 through their virtual crowdfunding event — enough to set up new stages.
“We were able to raise enough money to rebuild the stage and the band stage,” Boord said. “In fact, the stage got rebuilt this past weekend before we open — which is great, we didn’t think we were going to be able to do that.”
Shadowbox Live is kicking off opening weekend with a show that may be familiar to Columbus theatregoers as “Legends From Liverpool,” a musical tribute to The Beatles, reopens Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Wilson said.
“Legends From Liverpool” — which was shut down five weeks before its close in March 2020, briefly ran again with COVID-19 protocols in place during Shadowbox Live’s initial reopening in November 2020 before the venue was shut down again three weeks later, Boord said.
“We have to be very strategic about how many performances and rehearsals we can have and how many new shows we can do with keeping our audiences and our performers safe,” Wilson said. “So bringing The Beatles’ show back was easiest.”
A two-act, musical-sketch comedy show, “Let’s Get it On,” will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Boord said.
“‘Let’s Get it On’ was the show that was supposed to open the week of the shutdown and back in March,” Wilson said. “So that was just like, we have to do this, we have to bring it back to the world because it got shut down a year ago.”
As opening weekend approaches, Boord said Shadowbox Live is following COVID-19 protocols closely. They have implemented one-way traffic patterns, partitions between tables and are only selling tickets for tables of two and four.
Additionally, Boord said they’ve added a new handheld payment system for the waitstaff and incorporated fewer touch points with online seat selection and digital menus, programs and reply cards.
“I don’t think there’s any part of the operation that has not been touched and modified,” Boord said. “Slowing down has been really helpful and has allowed significant growth on part of the staff and teams. I’m really excited to see how it all shakes out.”
Boord and Wilson said Shadowbox Live will be open for live shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., but they plan to add Sunday shows in August. Tickets for “Legends From Liverpool” and “Let’s Get it On” are available on the Shadowbox Live website.
