It’s (almost) showtime! Mount Baker Theatre makes plans for reopening
Mount Baker Theatre is planning to reopen in March, but it will start with showing movies before it attempts to transition to live performances in the late summer or early fall.
Executive Director John Purdie made the announcement to members in a Zoom online presentation on Tuesday evening, Feb. 23. The theater’s first event will be a video recording of “Saving Christmas Town,” by Bellingham’s The Dance Studio on Saturday, March 6. Its first movie event will be the 2017 film “The Greatest Showman” on Friday, March 12.
Mount Baker Theatre is currently bringing in a new projector to show the movies, which are being planned for Fridays and Saturdays throughout the spring and summer, Purdie said. While a full lineup hasn’t been announced yet, they plan on showing a variety of timeless shows and feel-good classics. The theater won’t have new, first-run movies.
Operating under Phase 2 of the state’s COVID-19 Healthy Washington plan, the theater will have several restrictions in place for the movies, including:
▪ Only 200 of the 1,517 seats can be occupied. Seating will be spread out, but the theater will allow for some paired and groups-of-four seating.
▪ No intermission.
▪ Coat check is self-service.
▪ Water fountains are shut off.
▪ Face coverings required except for eating while seated.
While plenty of restrictions will be in place, it is an opportunity to attend an event in one of Bellingham’s iconic buildings. Moviegoers will have a theater experience that includes movie food as well as beer/wine options. The theater will also offer a table/tray to place in the seated area.
With limited seating, members will have the first chance to purchase movie tickets for a day or so before they are available to non-members. Details about movies and other events can be found on the Mount Baker Theatre’s website.
What about live shows?
With the hope that pandemic restrictions are eased by the end of summer to allow for more capacity, Mount Baker Theatre is starting to organize shows for that time. Planned shows include comedian Nate Bargatze on Thursday, Aug. 12, comedian David Sedaris on Sunday, Sept. 19, and singer Amy Grant on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
Given the uncertainty of the pandemic, Purdie said tickets probably won’t start going on sale for live events until around June, when it becomes more clear what people are able to do. To make live events work financially, Mount Baker Theatre would definitely need to have capacity more than 200 people; it probably needs to be closer to 1,000.
If increasing the capacity is not possible by next fall, the theater might stick with movie showings.
Theater pandemic impacts
The theater began canceling shows in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Whatcom County. Purdie said they lost more than 60 events between March and the end of June. It wasn’t just live concerts or shows, but dance studio events and graduations.
The theater tried to rebound with some movie showings in the fall, but just as the final pieces were put in place the second pandemic surge arrived, putting Whatcom County and the rest of the state back to Phase 1.
Purdie estimates that during the shutdown the theater went from 24 full-time equivalent staff positions to 3.5 full-time equivalent positions. During peak periods, the organization can have up to 45 full-time equivalent positions.
The city-owned facility is managed by the non-profit Mount Baker Theatre Corporation with operations funded by shows, member support, grants and a hotel-motel tax increase.
Mount Baker Theatre has received tremendous support from the community through membership renewals and fundraisers, Purdie said. That support has been important to maintain the facility; Purdie noted that completely shutting the building and turning off the heat would have created other problems for the interior, resulting in even higher costs for restoration work.
The organization has also received some federal support through the Paycheck Protection Program to pay the salaries of the idled employees. According to government data, that was in the $150,000 to $350,000 range. The organization is also looking at a potential second PPP loan or grants geared toward shuttered venues.
Even with help, reopening will be a challenge for the organization. If things go as planned, the theater should be able to make it, Purdie said, but any more bumps in the road and they will go from dire to crisis mode.
“The community has invested so much already, but we have to continue to get support,” Purdie said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
