Dear Friend,

Most of you will be receiving a postcard in the mail today or in the next few days about Take a Deep Breath, our capital campaign to help us pay for the new health and safety protocols that will be awaiting you when you return to the theatre in October for the start of our 2021-2022 season.   
 
We have mentioned these new standards and practices a few times in these weekly notes, and we outline them again in the mailing, but they bear repeating once more. We’re installing a new HVAC system throughout the building that complies with all the latest safety guidelines recommended by the CDC, including UV light, bi-polar ionization, and specialized high quality air filters; upgrading facilities and ticketing procedures to allow for as much of a touch-free patron experience as possible; adding numerous sanitation stations; and increasing cleaning frequency, including disinfectant spraying of the audience chamber before and after every performance.

The postcard informs you that these ambitious and necessary measures cost several hundred thousand dollars; in fact, the price will be close to a million dollars. As you know, we’ve been without revenue from ticket sales since February, 2020. During the past year, we’ve presented some 75 free programs online, with many more to come through August. The only time we’ve charged for tickets was earlier this month, when we teamed with Actors’ Playhouse on the streaming production of The Belle of Amherst, which was a benefit for both companies.

“The Belle of Amherst was a breath of fresh air for all of us who miss going to the theatre,” says Louise Snyder, chair of PBD’s board of directors. “It was a beautiful production that met Dramaworks’ high standards, but it lacked one thing: an audience. In order to ensure everyone’s safety and peace of mind when they return to the theatre, PBD’s new practices and procedures are essential – and costly. So now we’re asking patrons to contribute whatever you can to this capital campaign, knowing that when you come to see a show at PBD, you’ll not only be able to ‘take a deep breath,’ but you’ve helped make these new protocols a reality.”

Donations to the Take a Deep Breath campaign can be made online at palmbeachdramaworks.org/donate; via check payable to Palm Beach Dramaworks at 201 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, FL 33401; or by calling Director of Development Carla Bryant at 561.514.4042 x 106.

Thank you for all you do, and for your continued support.

Stay safe! 
Please consider donating to PBD. With your support, we can continue to offer a variety of programs virtually and preserve our reserve funds as we await the return to our live, mainstage performances later in the year.
TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO
Discussion April 14, 7:30pm
A discussion of the first play in our Nilo Cruz Contemporary Voices series, Two Sisters and a Piano. Hosted by Gary Cadwallder, PBD Education and Community Engagement Director. Panelists include J. Barry Lewis, Resident Director; and Janisset Rivero, human rights activist and community leader.
SOTTO VOCE
April 19, 7:30pm; Discussion April 21, 7:30pm
German-born, 80-year-old novelist Bemadette Kahn lives a life of self-imposed seclusion in her New York City apartment, where she tries to shut out the memories of her long-lost love, Ariel Strauss, one of the 900-plus Jewish refugees who set sail from Nazi Germany aboard the St. Louis in 1939, only to be turned away by Cuba and the US. But Saquiel Rafaeli, a 28-year-old Jewish-Cuban student, is determined to convince Bemadette to resurrect the past.

A discussion of the second play in our Nilo Cruz Contemporary Voices series, Sotto Voce. Hosted by Gary Cadwallder, PBD Education and Community Engagement Director. Panelists include Margaret Ledford, Play Reading Director; Maria Antuña, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Olga Granda, community and cultural arts leader.
ANNA IN THE TROPICS
April 26, 7:30pm; Discussion April 28, 7:30pm
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in a cigar factory in Tampa’s Cuban-American community in 1929, when cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are hired to read aloud, helping the workers not just to get through the tedium of their jobs, but to engage their minds. Juan Julian, a new lector, reads to them from Anna Karenina, and as Tolstoy’s characters come alive, their yearnings ignite the workers’ own passions to life-changing effect.

A discussion of the third play in our Nilo Cruz Contemporary Voices series, Sotto Voce. Hosted by Gary Cadwallder, Education and Community Engagement Director. Panelists include Marcos Santana, Play Reading Director; and Mirta Luaces, Editor and Reporter for La Guia News.
Contemporary Voices is sponsored by:
Executive Producers Marilyn Meyerhoff and Sam Feldman
Associate Producer Holland & Knight
PBD Online is sponsored by Louise and Barry Snyder