TEXARKANA, Texas - The experience of live theater and music is a communal one with people near us in their seats or standing and dancing nearby.
It's what we expect at a Broadway touring show or a theater concert by the likes of Willie Nelson, The Temptations, Lyle Lovett, Cody Jinks and the late B.B King, just a few of the renowned musicians who've played the Perot Theatre in recent years.
With a health crisis still in full swing as the coronavirus concerns call for social distancing measures, the reopening of various venues means going to a show will likely be a subtly different experience.
At the Perot, for example, a July 11 show "The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular" is still on the books, the first time for the Perot to welcome an audience since the coronavirus pandemic hit and shut theater doors temporarily.
As the Perot is managed by the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council, executive director Brian Goesl and operations director Randal Conry have worked with the city, which owns the venerable historic theater, to come up with a plan for socially distanced seating.
"We've gone through three or four different seating charts trying to figure out how it all might work," Conry said. One thing they can't gauge beforehand is the number of family groups coming to a show.
They've decided, along with most of their peers in the business, that family groups living together in a household can sit together, Conry said. They will be allowed to purchase tickets and sit next to each other, up to six people, he explained.
"But each group will group will then be separated from any other groups or individuals around them," Conry said.
In essence, said Goesl, single ticket buyers will not be within six feet of another ticket buyer. An empty row will be in front of them, an empty row behind and then two seats in between the ticket buyer and the person next in the same row.
"It looks like a checkerboard is what it looks like," Goesl said.
All ticket sales must now be handled through the box office and not online. When ticket buyers call, Perot staff find out how many people are in the party and they'll be placed, hopefully in the seats they want.
"As long as social distancing is in effect, that's something that we'll maintain," Goesl said. "We were very concerned about our patrons, our audience members' safety, certainly our staff safety so that's ushers as well as crew and then also who is presenting, the artists who are on stage."
Hand sanitizer stations will be arranged. "We will encourage people to wear masks because if you wear a mask there's a much less chance of you contracting COVID-19," Goesl said.
"And we will have masks available at the theater at cost. We think that's fair enough," Goesl said. They'll encourage masks but not require them because that's not happening in the community now, he said. It would also be difficult to police. Masks will be available for $1.25.
Guidelines they follow are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other measures the Perot Theatre will take: encouraging advance ticket purchase, social distancing with any lines (outside, in the lobby and with ticket scanning) and, using enhancement money from the city, the installation of hands-free restroom faucets and flushers on toilets and urinals.
Bathrooms will have attendants on duty to wipe down the bathroom after each person visits.
"We're working on it right now," Conry said about installing the new faucets and flushers for the restrooms. The job should be done within the next couple of weeks.
About the Pink Floyd-themed laser show, expect to see ushers and crew with masks, trained to maintain social distancing. In this sense, they will have to use the entire theater, orchestra and balcony. Some patrons may be up in the balcony for the first time.
"It will be interesting, but it's honestly the only way we can keep everyone safe, the only way that we can possibly open up," Goesl said. "The number of people in the audience will really be dependent on the number of people who are part of a group."
In terms of capacity to work with, they can sell 406 single tickets. That's a maximum. That's about 26 percent of the house, Goesl said. It's a challenge to make money this way.
"So many venues have not been able to open up because of this," Goesl said. "But this first show that we have is a lower cost show." If it were a Broadway show, he says, they couldn't do it. For this one, with luck they'll break even.
"This is a good show for that," Goesl said. It will be different experience, but the Perot doesn't often host a laser show. It's new either way, the TRAHC director said.
In addition to the laser show, TRAHC is talking with local dance studios about staging the annual recitals they typically hold at the Perot.
Conry said they'll discuss these rules and ones for backstage and dressing room use to see if they can still be held.
"We're actually coming up to the time when we would normally be finishing our dance recitals," Conry said. Some schools have canceled or made alternate plans, but recitals may yet still happen. "It's possible that we'll try to do some of those schools' recitals still yet this summer."
Plans also called for the Regional Arts Center to open Thursday, June 4. Hours where it's open to the public have been reduced to noon to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. Days closed will see staff cleaning the RAC.
(On the Net: TRAHC.org.)