Page 40 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021

At right, the Ted Shawn Theatre, which will undergo an $8 million renovation this year. At left, the Doris Duke Theatre, which was gutted by fire in November. Input is being sought on a replacement, and an architect is likely to be chosen later this year.
for safety reasons, severely limiting in-person attendance. Which brings us to what would be considered the one bright spot for 2020, a sched- ule of 38 performances from years past — with new pre- and post-performance talks — pre- sented virtually and to huge, global audiences,
a development that made it possible for people who could never before get to Becket to take in a performance at the ‘Pillow.’
The loss of the beloved theater that hosted smaller productions seemed to provide a surreal ending to a terrible year that was all too real, and all too painful.
Looking back on it, Tatge said the Pillow, like every other live performing-arts venue, was severely tested by all the pandemic bought with it.
“With the cancellation of the season, we lost all of our earned-income potential — 40% of our
Pam Tatge says the ‘Pillow’
has put a horrendous 2020 behind it, but stern challenges remain
for this Berkshires institution.
“We realized an audience
for our virtual festival that had
thousands more people than
we could ever accommodate
on the Pillow campus,” Tatge
explained. “And 80% of those
people were new to us — they
had not been on our list before,
and that was a great revelation;
people know of Jacob’s Pil-
low, but they haven’t been able
to make their way here. So in
terms of accessibility and reach-
ing people of different econom-
ic means and physical abilities,
this was an amazing way to
have the magic and joy that we
experience on campus at the Pillow shared far more widely.”
For the 2021 season, most performances will again have virtual access internationally, a step to broaden audiences that Tatge called a “a big experiment.”
“We’ll want to see if the audience engagement is as great — it’s summertime, and things are opening again, so we’re going to see,” she said. “But I know a virtual platform has been in Jacob’s Pillow’s mission delivery, and it will continue to be a way that we deliver our mission into the future.”
Staging a Comeback
Tatge was at her residence in Connecticut when she got the phone call early in the after- noon on Nov. 16, delivering the terrible news that the Duke was on fire. She raced north as fast as she could and arrived in Becket just as the last remaining portions of the wooden structure were being consumed by the flames.
budget is ticket income,” she explained. “We had to lay off 35% of our staff. Ultimately, we ended the year OK because we received a PPP grant. Without that grant, we would not have made it through as successfully.”
For 2021, there will be a new, very tight budget, hopes for a secondroundofPPP,andsome high fundraising goals, Tatge went on, adding that there are many unknowns and consider- able challenges ahead even as the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the
pandemic draws closer.
“Because our performances are going to be
shorter, we won’t have the earned-income poten- tial to bridge the gap between expenses and reve- nues,” she explained. “So we really need a subsidy, and we really need our community’s support to invest in putting artists back to work — who must get back to work if our field is going to survive this — and bring audiences back together.”
Overall, though, there is considerable opti- mism moving forward, and Tatge said that, for her, it’s fueled by the tremendous response she’s seen from the community, a broad term she uses to describe constituencies ranging from perform- ers to patrons who take in their work.
“What has been impressive to me is the range of people who have contributed to Jacob’s Pillow so far, from artists themselves, who don’t have much but want to share something with Jacob’s Pillow, to alumni, to our board members and our members,” she said. “Jacob’s Pillow members are a devoted bunch, and they have stepped up, and
“Our first priority is to bring people back together safely, so we have rigorous protocols that are in place — for audiences, performers, and staff.”
we’re going to need that to continue until we get to 2022.”
Optimism also abounds concerning the 2021 season of performances, which, as Tatge noted, will take place outdoors — at the Inside/Out stage and other settings around the sprawling campus.
“Our first priority is to bring people back together safely, so we have rigorous protocols that are in place — for audiences, performers, and staff,” she explained, adding that these protocols are being developed in conjunction with — and will be shared by — other performing-arts institu- tions in the Berkshires, such as Barrington Stage, Tanglewood, and other venues.
This collaboration is in many ways unprec- edented, but also quite necessary, she went on, if the the tourism-dependent Berkshires region is to battle back from an incredibly difficult 2020.
The schedule
calls for all activities Pillow
— performances, Continued on page 43
40 MARCH 31, 2021
TOURISM & HOSPITALITY
Photos by Christopher Duggan
Photo by Christina Lane
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