B Street Theatre adapts to the pandemic with more than a dozen free Zoom shows
As theater fans settled into their seats Thursday evening, they heard a twist on the usual message about preparing for the show. Enter full screen and be sure to use good quality speakers, advised B Street Theatre’s associate artistic director Lyndsay Burch, because the Zoom performance is about to start.
B Street’s virtual Thursday events, called “Dealer’s Choice,” give two actors 30 minutes each to “do things they’re not great at,” in the words of artistic director Buck Busfield. On this particular Thursday, middle-aged John Lamb had 20 minutes to learn the “Renegade” dance — a TikTok sensation popularized by teenage girls. Amy Kelly, a self-professed middling student in her high school days, must answer questions about literature — and drink each time she gets one wrong.
Dealer’s Choice is one of more than a dozen regularly scheduled virtual events at B Street. The theater’s offerings include options for adults and kids that range from music to plays to improvisational comedy.
“We’re a very responsive, reactive company,” Busfield said Thursday as he introduced the performance. “If we had the human capacity to do it, we’d have shows every day of the year.”
Like the actors, B Street fans have adapted to virtual events. They use the chat function to greet each other as they log on, many saying hello to friends by name. As Lamb starts to work through a Renegade dance tutorial on camera, the audience maintains a running commentary in the chat and types out messages of encouragement: “So brave, John.” “Your hip action is incredible!” Meanwhile, B Street actors and directors in the “peanut gallery” provide more critical verbal feedback.
Lamb and Kelly have positioned themselves in front of blank walls in their homes, while Burch and Busfield have changed their Zoom backgrounds so that it looks as though they’re floating in front of hundreds of empty seats at The Sofia, their home theater in Sacramento.
When B Street Theatre found out in March that in-person performances would need to be put on pause, the group’s leadership immediately held a meeting and “just threw ideas out,” said executive producer Jerry Montoya. They decided to provide some of their most popular offerings, including improv comedy, more frequently. They also brainstormed ways to keep their community of fans and supporters active.
On March 25, 12 days after their last regular performance, B Street launched their virtual series. The chatty format of Dealer’s Choice allows actors and audience members to interact despite their physical distance. Montoya said the theater also adjusted to the pandemic by making online shows free.
“This is our way of staying connected to the community,” Montoya said.
B Street Theatre was founded by Buck Busfield’s brother, actor Timothy Busfield, who is perhaps best known for playing reporter Danny Concannon on the television series “The West Wing.” Busfield started the company as Theatre for Children, Inc. in 1986, and B Street Theatre took on a new name and expanded its reach to include adult audiences in 1991.
Jason Kuykendall, who has been acting with B Street since 2002, said Zoom acting feels different because audience reactions are less immediately obvious.
“It’s a little more like film acting,” Kuykendall said. He sometimes leaves the chat open to see commentary from the virtual audience, but closes it for play readings and other situations in which it might be distracting.
The immediate future is uncertain for live theater, with California public health guidelines continuing to prohibit gatherings with more than 100 attendees. “This COVID thing is not going away,” Montoya said. “Nobody’s opening soon.”
In the meantime, B Street Theatre is thinking ahead to future shows, which will include a series about social justice in America called Voices of Justice.
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This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 6:40 AM.