St. Paul’s Park Square Theatre has canceled two upcoming productions and will go dark until March in response to low ticket sales, the company announced Monday.
In a statement, Park Square Theatre cited a drop in the number of schools purchasing student matinee tickets as cause for canceling the 2022-2023 season’s productions of The Diary of Anne Frank and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“The up-front cost of production, coupled with the slow return to in-person programming, both from patrons and schools, makes this the best decision for Park Square Theatre as we work to continue steering the organization toward a vibrant, supportive, and sustainable future,” the company wrote.
The Snowy Day, which closes Friday, will now be the company’s last production until the lights go up on The Revolutionists in late March.
Park Square Theatre’s announcement is the latest reshuffle for local performers as arts organizations across the Twin Cities continue to grapple with challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While trying to mitigate the spread of viruses among company and crew members, Twin Cities theaters have seen production costs balloon around new expenses, such as COVID-19 testing, a COVID-19 compliance officer and additional understudies — at the same time, deep financial pitfalls remain from the previous two years.
The Park Square Theatre said it’s working to produce shows in an “evolving world,” when the trajectory of trends surrounding COVID-19 and audience habits remains unclear.
“We appreciate everyone’s understanding of the realities we and the theatre community at large are facing and look forward to seeing audiences at Park Square Theatre this coming March,” the company wrote.
