As Outdoor Entertainment Heats Up This Summer, Indoor Venues Slow Reopening | New


Late Friday afternoon at Century Cinema 16 in Mountain View, less than 30 seats in one of the 200 or so theaters were occupied, but for moviegoers watching “The Boss Baby: Family Business” it was a slice of pre – pandemic normality – no mask, proof of vaccination or physical distancing required. In the dark, the children laughed; greasy fingers dipped in buckets of popcorn.

The movie complex looked pretty much what it always has been, although the water fountains have been turned off, the stickers on the bathroom floors still urging patrons to “play your part; Stay away ”and the workers wore face covers.

Two weeks after the state officially reopens and the removal of many closure regulations, major sites along the Midpeninsula are taking their time to get back on line. Some, like Century 16, have resumed mostly normal operations, leaving masking and physical distancing decisions entirely to the customers themselves.

Others, like the Shoreline Amphitheater, have yet to welcome the public. The parking lot famous for post-concert traffic jams is almost deserted. Inside the metal entrance doors, yellow “caution” tape remains stretched between the trees and the posts. Above the box office counters, the marquee displays not the names of upcoming attractions but, instead, “I wish you were here.”

On the venue’s website, the first show listed this summer is August 21: country singer / songwriter Dierks Bentley’s “Beers on Me” tour. Health and safety rules posted on the website cite the CDC’s recommendation that unvaccinated people wear face covers. But there is no guideline that instead of 22,500 places participants will have to check their full vaccination status or show a negative COVID-19 test, despite the California Department of Public Health’s “strong recommendation” that people get tested. go to outdoor events with over 10,000 people doing so.

Live Nation, which operates the amphitheater, did not respond to multiple interview requests for this article.

Elsewhere on the Midpeninsula, other venues are gradually hosting events this summer using their outdoor spaces, with clear plans to resume indoor performances soon.

The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (MVCPA) at 500 Castro Street has reopened, with live performances recently resuming in its ParkStage outdoor space, which can accommodate up to 300 people with lawn seating, and its small SecondStage interior space, which has a capacity of 200.

As of June 25, the city of Mountain View was still not offering tickets for any production on its 600-seat MainStage, where arts companies like TheatreWorks perform, but director of marketing and public relations Shonda Ranson , said she hoped MainStage events would resume in August. . She asked the public to check the centre’s website for updates online.

As of June 25, all MVCPA staff and volunteers wear masks and maintain physical distance where possible. No masks or distancing are required for fully vaccinated participants, the website says, while unvaccinated participants are required to mask and distance themselves.

At Stanford University, the open-air Frost Amphitheater reopened at less than 5% capacity, 400 attendees per event, on April 29 to screen films. Stanford Live added concerts and ballets to its programming at Frost on Wednesday and increased audience capacity to 20%, or 1,660 people, for July, with a larger audience allowed in August.

Citing the latest state, county and university guidelines as of July 2, the public at the Frost Amphitheater will not need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test or complete vaccination. Masks are optional for vaccinated clients and mandatory for unvaccinated guests.

Stanford Live also scheduled its first indoor performance of the year at the Bing Concert Hall from August 25-29: the premiere of “The No One’s Rose”, a Stanford Live, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) and ‘American Modern Opera. Company.

The show combines music, dance and theater incorporating the work of Paul Celan, poet and Holocaust survivor. Prior to the premiere, the artists will participate in a two-week residency at Stanford Live.

Masks will be required for all guests during indoor shows, according to the Stanford Live website.

A covered place that is already back and with a capacity of 100%: the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, which can accommodate 2,000 visitors a day from Wednesday to Sunday. It began its gradual reopening in April, when it invited students and museum members to be its first visitors, then launched a “Welcome” advertising campaign. The museum was then operating at 25% of its capacity and required visitors to follow a programmed reservation system.

Since the reopening on June 15, Cantor has moved from an hourly reservation system to daily reservations, which are free. The museum still requires all visitors to wear masks, as per the university’s recommendations. Its website continues to urge people to maintain a social distance with others inside the museum.

“It was important for Cantor’s staff to open at limited capacity when it was deemed safe in April, because we know the museum is a place of community connection, even from a distance,” Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, Acting Co-Director and Burton and Deedee McMurtry curator at Cantor Arts Center, said in a statement. “We have since increased capacity to 100% and look forward to welcoming even more visitors to the galleries and museum grounds throughout the summer and fall when we open Paper Chase: Ten Years of collection of prints, drawings and photographs at the cantor.

For sports fans, cheering on the Cardinal this fall should seem familiar: Stanford Athletics plans to welcome fans to its indoor and outdoor competition venues with no capacity limitations, and football tailgating should also be allowed, the company said. university this week.

The first home football game will be against UCLA on September 25.

“We are delighted to be back at Stanford Stadium this season and playing in front of our students, fans and alumni,” David Shaw, Bradford M. Freeman’s director of football, said in a press release. “We have one of the toughest and most exciting schedules in the country.”

All home sporting events will be conducted according to state public health guidelines, as well as county and campus guidelines, the university said. Specific protocols will be announced closer to the start of the season. More information is published on gostanford.com.