THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020
program for adults 50 and older. The program’s goal is to provide cognitive stimulation, physical activity and social interaction for those 50 to 85. “It’s really just to provide access to people who may not think they have time in the spotlight left,” Hinkle says. “To give them something to look forward to.”
COVID-19 CLOSURE They were in the midst of their second season when COVID-19 hit and the program went on hiatus. TheaterWorks canceled its gala, three shows and three community outreach programs. “Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt,” Hinkle says. “When you get that hamster wheel going, it takes some time to get it to stop. We had to bring our season to a close and consign ourselves that the (anniversary) season we had planned was not going to happen as we had planned.” However, Hinkle says, she and Hamby didn’t want to wait things out. They wanted to find something to do for the community. Hamby is interested in immersive theater. So they developed an immersive version of “Alice in Wonderland” called “Curiouser and Curiouser,” which runs through Sunday, November 1. “What we’ve done is literally taken every room in the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts and converted it to allow audience members to walk through them and experience a production,” Hinkle says. Like Alice, the audience tumbles down the rabbit hole and has adventures in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to the Rose Garden, where they will paint roses red
to the Ocean Room, where they will meet the Walrus and the Carpenter. They’ll get to meet Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and the Queen of Hearts. “It’s a really different way to experience theater,” Hinkle says. “There are still actors and designers. It’s multidisciplinary. Humpty Dumpty is a puppet—that’s one of the things we do. We’re a puppet company. We have visual artists, we have multimedia designs, set designs, props designs.” The staff will only bring through groups of up to 10, and they must wear face coverings. The theater will provide gloves and take guests’ temperatures. They’ll clean each area between groups and do a deep cleaning each night. Everything is set up for social distancing, so people are always at least 6 feet away from others who are not in their party. Other celebrations are on standby. “No one knows when it will be safe to do theater again the way people are accustomed, to have people in a theater watching a show,” Hinkle says. “Who knows when that will happen. Right now, we’re celebrating the small things we have been able to get to the place where we are. This is our 35th year, and that’s a long time for some theater companies. We will do something when it is safe and when it really feels right.”
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A TABLE FOR TWO? Phind it
“Curiouser and Curiouser” Various times through Sunday, November 1 Peoria Center for the Performing Arts, 10580 N. 83rd Drive, Peoria 623.815.7930, theaterworks.org ENTERTAINERMAG.COM