As the situation around the Coronavirus (COVID-19) evolves rapidly, the response from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre must also change to address growing concerns. As stated by Health Canada, Public Health Ontario and Toronto Public Health local risk remains low, but the health and well-being of our communities, audiences, artists, and staff is of the highest priority.
In order to contribute to public health efforts, we have made the difficult decision to suspend all our public programming for the next several weeks. Effective March 16, our theatre will be closed to the public and all programming at 12 Alexander Street is suspended until May 1, 2020. This includes workshop programming, community rentals, late night events, two shows in our main stage season (Mine, and Discord and Din’s production of Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.), and the Montreal showing of Obaaberima.
During this time our administrative operations will continue, with staff working from home where possible, and increased sanitation measures in place in the building. Over the next week we will be in touch with patrons who have booked tickets for affected events to ensure that they are aware of the cancellations.
Due to the financial impact on our artists and operations we encourage our patrons to please consider one of the following options in lieu of a refund:
- Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is happy to exchange tickets for future season performances at no cost.
- We are happy to convert your ticket purchase into a donation and we will issue you a tax receipt for the full amount.
- You can gift the Buddies experience to a friend (or yourself!) by converting your ticket into a gift certificate for future use.
We will continue to monitor the situation and make decisions about events beyond May 1 accordingly. We are hoping to resume activities in May with Soundstreams’ production of Musik Fur Das Ende, and also hope to mount our production of Jenna Harris’ Mine (slated to run March 21 – April 5) at a time in the near future.
We recognize that this is a difficult time for everyone, and in particular for precarious workers – artists, freelancers, sex workers – and disabled and immuno-compromised folks, who make up a large part of our community. While limiting gatherings and physical interactions is encouraged at the moment, there are still ways to check in with and support friends and loved ones.
Stay safe, and take care of each other.
xo
Buddies
All patrons who purchased have been contacted via e-mail as of March 16. If you have not heard from us, you can fill out this information form.
A previous COVID-19 update was posted on March 13. You can read that statement here.