Shakespeare once wrote, 'All the world's a stage' which is a good thing for local theatre groups.
As the province moved in Step 3 of the Reopening Plan, live performance was allowed to return, but many troupes are leaving the stage behind and heading into the great outdoors to allow for larger, more distanced audiences.
The Foster Festival is getting ready to announce a new outdoor performance, and Artistic Producer Emily Oriold says they may not plan to go back inside until the holiday season.
Even so, she is excited to return to live theatre after a year of creatively working within restrictions by offering digital experiences and partnerships with local restaurants.
"We had to get very creative with ticket sales and keeping ourselves going and I'm quite proud of what we've been able to achieve. We are in a very good position to reopen. We just also did a fundraising campaign and our donors and our audiences have been very responsive and we're getting ready to reopen as a result."
Oriold says the industry is still trying to navigate what the current restrictions mean for live performances. "It's been very unclear, especially for our industry and we're not the only ones. There are a lot of other businesses that are reopening where they're not entirely sure on what they can and cannot do. And I mean businesses that might often have entertainment added in, and they're going, 'Can we dance? Can we have people singing?'
Theatre operators from across the province have been coming together for a call on Mondays to try and work out the best way forward. Oriold says most groups are still putting up plexiglass or other barriers for both the safety of actors and audiences.