After a year of virtual programming and significant financial set backs, the Glow Lyric Theatre is returning to in-person performances and completely original material starting Aug. 19.
“It has taken a lot of ingenuity, quite honestly, to stay open,” co-founder and Art Director Jenna Tamisiea said, recalling the pivot to digital-only performances and events throughout the pandemic. “We never really stopped. We just pivoted in a major way.”
Founded in 2009, the nonprofit theater features opera, operetta and musical productions. During the pandemic, they didn’t charge for their digital events, Tamisiea and her husband and theater co-founder Christian Elser said. Instead, they relied heavily on support from the community and local foundations and patrons.
“Our patrons really stepped up to the plate because we lost 100% of our program revenue because we just weren’t producing live theater,” Tamisiea said.
Now, they’re preparing for a Summer Season to “celebrate all that lies ahead.”
From Aug. 19-29, Glow will feature several performances and shows at The Fred Collins Performing Arts Stage at the Kroc Center. This season features “Rock Opera,” “Passione” and “The Jenna & Christian Show.”
“Rock Opera” will be a medley of rock songs combined with poetry and dance, said Elser. “It’s really all speaking to our reflective experience over this past year and a half.”
For opera fans, Metropolitan Opera tenor Oogle Vera and San Francisco Opera soprano Marina Harris will perform in “Passione.” The show, according to Elser, will feature popular Opera songs that will include personal stories about passion in arts, in business and in everyday life.
Finally, “The Jenna & Christian Show” will feature the married couple performing a cabaret of Broadway hits.
“[This season is] going to be about personal experiences, it’s about people, it’s about human resilience. And it’s about the heart-warming feeling that we all have returning to live theater, which is such a healing thing both for the artists that are in the shows as well as for the audiences,” Tamisiea said.
Tamisiea and Elser said they are taking precautions, including having a health consultant help organize the productions as safely as possible.
For a full schedule of the Glow Lyric Theatre’s Summer Season visit https://glowlyric.com/.
