Live Theater Returns To Mainstage In Gloucester Township Saturday

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Live theater returns to Gloucester Township this weekend when the Mainstage Center for the Arts presents its “Home for the Holidays” show.

The show takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday night in the Dennis Flyer Theater at Camden County College, 200 College Drive in the Blackwood section of the township.

“I know that you are as excited as we are to see our kids once again on a stage, live, in lights and costumes,” Mainstage Center for the Arts Producing Artistic Director and Founder Ed Fiscella said. “Our show will be approximately 90 minutes without intermission. Our theatre is 650 seats, and we have limited the seats available to 350 to provide for social distancing. Wearing a mask and distancing from those outside of your family are mandatory. We hope to see you this weekend at the show. Please invite friends and family as we celebrate a return to live performance with our Mainstage family.”

It will be the first show Mainstage Center for the Arts performs since March 2020, when non-essential businesses were shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Read more here: Pandemic Has Gloucester Twp.'s Mainstage Fighting For Survival

The arts theater received a $7,500 grant from the New Jersey Arts and Cultural Recovery Fund (NJACRF). It also received $90,000 in CARES Act funding. It was able to resume in-person classes over the summer.

In order to finally reclaim the stage, Mainstage has COVID-19 protocols in effect. This includes contactless tickets that can be purchased at www.mainstage.org.

“When you purchase your ticket there, you will have a choice to have the virtual ticket come to your phone or your computer,” Fiscella said. “You can even ask our ticket company through an easy link to send the ticket to another person who may not live with you, such as Grandmom and Grandpop. We ask that everyone purchase these tickets online and then just show your phone or print out a ticket to show the usher when you enter the theatre. We will be selling paper tickets at the door but would hope that most attendees purchase online.”

All seats are general admission, meaning theater goers choose their seat when they enter the theater. Families are asked to sit together, and to distance themselves from other people who aren’t in their group. Of the 650 seats available, 350 tickets will be sold.

“Many theatres are doing temperature and vaccination checks,” Fiscella said. “However, we will not be doing these. Wearing a mask and distancing from those outside of your family are mandatory. We hope to see you this weekend at the show. Please invite friends and family as we celebrate a return to live performance with our Mainstage family.”