Spotlight Stage Company: Hope For Our Future

Spotlight Stage Company, like so many other performing arts companies, has been affected by this health crisis that has been gripping our world for the past few months. Spring is critical for our performing arts company as it allows us time to prepare for and perfect our main stage productions, competitions and brand new works and to prepare for Summer. Our company, unfortunately, fell victim to the pandemic and three of our major productions had to be cancelled. The broken hearts shared by our artists, company members, and our community still has us reeling as we see their struggles on social media.

Performing artists and the artists involved in the theatrical world are a special breed of human being. We can be outgoing and introverted, we can be sensitive or stoic, but the one thing we all have in common is our passion for what we do. We rely on the emotions and energy we get as a response from our audiences to keep us feeling alive and like we have a purpose to fulfill. This pandemic has sought to halt us.

After opening our doors in January of 2019 and working tirelessly to build our business while helping other arts organizations along the way, what we thought was impossible, became a reality; COVID 19 appeared in the winter of 2020 and we, like so many others, were forced to cancel our 3 main stage productions, two of which were already in rehearsals. No more large gatherings. No more theatrical events until further notice. No more working physically together for the foreseeable future. Our company has been financially strained from this pandemic as we still pay our bills and are ineligible for relief due to last year being our first year in business. We are unsure when we can come together again to create an experience for the public as we don’t know what our new normal is going to be. Sadly, we don’t know how much longer our doors will be able to remain open without the continued support of the people we strive to create for.

Now more than ever our company is looking to the public to help us keep our heads above water until we can perform for you again. Singing into a camera to post online and on social media doesn’t have the same effect as being in a theatre and watching a performance unfold. There’s nothing like live theatre; there’s nowhere on Earth that theatre people feel more comfortable and at home in their own skin than on a stage giving every fiber of their inner selves to an audience to transport them away from their daily lives. It is our job as artists to help you to forget, even if for a moment, about the struggles, the sadness, the stresses and troubles in your life and provide you with relief. If your heart races, if you cry, if you laugh or if you feel free while watching a show, then you’ve truly let yourselves become a part of the experience.

We are a company that brings people together. We become a larger and stronger family with each passing production and as this last year has shown us, we can do it! If you jump out of your seat to applaud and shout, “BRAVO” then you’ve become part of our theatre family. We had so much help along the way with countless volunteers, friends and family supporting us. Our audiences have been so wonderful to us. We ask you now to help us to prevent that from disappearing. We ask for your financial help so that we may weather this storm and come back bigger, better, and stronger than anyone ever could have thought we would. Please consider contributing to this fund. You will help us to stay afloat and continue our work to empower and educate our artists of all ages. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

The Members of Spotlight Stage Company