L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
Theatre Ariel Returns with Hybrid Performances
T H EATER
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
THEATRE ARIEL WILL
return for its 31st season on Oct.

30, but the upcoming season
will be diff erent from recent,
pre-pandemic iterations.

Instead of continuing the
salon tradition of holding shows
in people’s living rooms, Th eatre
Ariel will host a pandemic-era
hybrid schedule. For all four of
its 2021-’22 plays, two perfor-
mances are going to be staged in
a public location, and two others
will be staged over Zoom.

Even though it’s not salon
theater, the 2021-’22 schedule is
still a step forward from its prede-
cessor. When last season started,
there was no approved vaccine
for COVID-19. So, every perfor-
mance took place on Zoom.

Deborah Baer Mozes, the
founding director of Th eatre
Ariel and a Philadelphia
resident, said she was encour-
aged by the 2020-’21 schedule.

People still paid for the Zoom
performances. But she’s also excited to have
those crowds back.

Th eatre Ariel describes itself
as “Pennsylvania’s only profes-
sional theatre dedicated to
illuminating the social, cultural
and spiritual heritage of the
Jewish people,” according to a
press release.

“I really missed our audience,”
Baer Mozes said.

Th e audience will be back,
but it won’t quite be the same.

The pre-pandemic salon
shows featured audiences of
55-60 people at most, and 25 at
least, usually packed into a Main
Line living room. But during
the new season, the intimate
living rooms will be replaced by
various area locations, starting
with the spacious sanctuary of
Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley.

Baer Mozes said Th eatre
Ariel members didn’t want
to host people in their homes
during COVID.

To maintain social distancing,
Deborah Baer Mozes
Courtesy of Deborah Baer Mozes
crowd sizes at Har Zion will be
limited to 40 people. Audience
members must show proof of
vaccination and wear masks.

Actors and staff members also
will be vaccinated, though actors
won’t wear masks on stage.

“We want to make the experi-
ence as comfortable and safe as
possible,” Baer Mozes said.

According to the director,
Theatre Ariel is following
the same Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention guide-
lines as other theaters.

“It’s what most cultural
organizations are following,”
she added. “Broadway, theaters
in Chicago, theaters in
Philadelphia.” Baer Mozes expects the
audience to come back because
of the theater’s loyal following.

Its regular crowd grew
throughout the 2010s. So, when
the pandemic hit, Baer Mozes
and her board didn’t hesitate to
pivot to Zoom.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom
Wolf started implementing
lockdown measures on March
12, 2020. By March 25, Th eatre
Ariel was hosting its fi rst virtual
performance. Th e salon theater closed its
2019-’20 season in the digital
space and held its entire 2020-’21
schedule there, too.

Despite the change, pre-pan-
demic supporters continued to
pay for tickets. But the Zoom
plays had an unexpected
benefi t: opening Th eatre Ariel to
audiences outside the area.

Word-of-mouth brought in
people from New York City,
Los Angeles, Oklahoma City,
Canada and Israel, according
to Baer Mozes. Th e director
herself told a friend in St.

Louis, who then told her own
friends. Going into the new season,
Baer Mozes and her board
members understand how
to stage plays on Zoom. Th e
director considers both options,
socially distanced in-person
shows and virtual shows, to be
viable moving forward.

“I guess I would say we’re a
hybrid theater,” she said.

Some members said they
loved being in people’s homes,
but they are excited about the
“agrees to defend a skinhead
accused of a vicious murder,”
according to a Th eatre Ariel
press release.

Upcoming performances
will feature “Th e Sabbath Girl,”
a romantic comedy about a
hip art curator who meets an
Orthodox Jewish man, and “Th e
Wanderers,” a comedy about
two couples, one Chasidic and
the other secular, who share
more than they realize.

To learn more about
attending shows, visit thethe-
atreariel.org. “We came through the
pandemic through the support
of our members,” Baer Mozes
said. “Th is year is going to be
telling in terms of how successful
we are with the hybrid.” ●
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JEWISHEXPONENT.COM new season and the hybrid
possibility. Rory Michelle Sullivan, a
city resident and Th eatre Ariel
supporter for three years,
believes it’s smart to do both.

Some people really want to
come together in person again
— while Zoom can be more
intimate than it seems.

“You can see everybody on
the Zoom boxes and talk to
everyone at once,” she said.

Marci Wilf, a Wynnewood
resident and the theater’s
co-president, explained that,
while she enjoyed the salon
atmosphere, she always enjoyed
the experience because of the
plays themselves, too.

“Th e plays are always evocative
and interesting,” she said.

Th is year’s opening play is
called “Cherry Docs,” and it’s
about a Jewish lawyer who
JEWISH EXPONENT
10/19/21 3:45 PM
OCTOBER 28, 2021
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