By Linda Feagler
Gina Vernaci, Playhouse Square’s president and CEO, vividly recalls the day COVID-19 took center stage in her life.
It was Thursday, March 12, 2020, and the 50th-anniversary tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” was in town. Cast and crew were preparing for their third performance of the dazzling revival at the Connor Palace when word came down that in the wake of the pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine had issued a directive prohibiting gatherings of more than 100 people.
“It felt as though you had stepped off the stage into a bottomless orchestra pit, and didn’t know where you were going to stop,” Vernaci says. “On March 2, we had announced that our 48,629 season-ticketholders for the KeyBank Broadway Series was the largest (subscriber base) in North America. Ten days later, we were out of business.”
REVIVAL
It’s not the first storm Playhouse Square and Vernaci have weathered. In 1970, when the State, Ohio, Palace and Allen theaters were slated to be demolished, community leaders banded together to spare them from the wrecking ball.
And when Vernaci arrived in Cleveland 14 years later to start the internship that would ultimately direct the course of her career, there was no guarantee the job would be a permanent one.
“In 1984, Playhouse Square had two theaters in operation, and the organization was a million dollars in debt,” she says. “I was told that, although they really needed the help, they really couldn’t afford the help and they could only pay me for three months. I was advised to go home and really think about this because it was a big risk. Even though most of the theaters were unrenovated, I found the architecture of the buildings inspiring and loved the story of their rescue. So when I got home, I called and said, ‘I’ll see you Monday. Playhouse Square is where I want to be.’ ”
This fall, as the arts make a much-welcomed comeback, and the glorious Playhouse Square theaters gear up for the first live performances in 18 months, Vernaci talked with Boomer & Beyond about the ways the arts enrich our lives, and Playhouse Square’s commitment to making them accessible to everyone.
B&B: How has the pandemic affected the arts community?
GV: We were a very hard-hit industry. But I also say with enormous respect that there are people who suffered very personal losses as well. So we share our story in the scope of so many things that are going on in the world around us.
The cascading effect at Playhouse Square was that we canceled or postponed over 1,100 performances and events. The challenge of taking that on didn’t happen all at once: The waves kept hitting the shore, and we kept having to say, ‘Here’s the next round of cancellations.’ Logistically, it was also a big conversation for us to figure out how to [help] our resident companies — Cleveland Play House, Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland Ballet, Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, DANCECleveland and Tri-C’s theater and JazzFest programs — as well as Broadway in Akron (which is staged at E.J. Thomas Hall) soldier through and come back to life this fall. What helped us through this time was the fact that our team here loves Playhouse Square and what we do. For us, this isn’t a job — it’s a calling and a lifestyle. We pulled together and came up with solutions — and when we found we weren’t on the right path, we stopped and tried new ones.
B&B: Were there any silver linings?
GV: There were extremely wonderful discoveries. Education and outreach are central to Playhouse Square’s nonprofit mission. We created workshops and study guides and rolled them out to the community to serve 95,000 students throughout Northeast Ohio. Every school in the Cleveland Municipal School District participated, and we have never had that kind of participation before. That speaks to the extraordinary need for the arts in the community. When it comes to school funding, arts programs often are not considered necessary. But what we have just been through speaks to the fact that the arts are as important to us as oxygen. When the chips were down, what students and teachers needed were the arts to get them through.
B&B: You earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and tutored students in trigonometry. What led you to choose a career in the theater?
GV: I always loved the arts. I grew up in St. Louis, one of five children raised by a single mom whose income placed us well below the poverty line. Nonetheless, there were still lots of ways that we got out and enjoyed the arts. A favorite place was The Muny, an 11,000-seat outdoor venue, the last three rows of which were free. I remember sitting with my mom and being swept away by what was happening on stage way down there. After I graduated, I became an administrative assistant at The Folly Theater, a former burlesque house that was reopening in downtown Kansas City as a small nonprofit theater. That is what eventually led me to Playhouse Square.
B&B: Playhouse Square is renowned for being a key stop on the Broadway touring circuit. How did the complex earn that accolade?
GV: I have the joy and honor to serve as the vice-chair of the road for the Broadway League — the trade association for Broadway — which puts Playhouse Square in the room where it happens.
But the real reason the KeyBank Broadway Series is so successful is that we have an audience in Northeast Ohio like no other. It is highly ingrained to go out and enjoy all facets of the arts. No matter how wonderful a show might be, you are nowhere without an audience, and we have audiences here that, ratio-wise, proportionally extend way beyond the population for a market this size.
B&B: What do you attribute that to?
GV: One [factor] is that this community has a lot of world-class arts organizations, and when you are exposed to world-class, it whets your appetite for more. The learning institutions in this area are also highly respected in terms of the arts and training one receives, and there is also this interesting network of professional, semi-professional and community theater. We are all part of the same tapestry, and together, it weaves the portrait of who Cleveland is.
B&B: Playhouse Square is dedicated to making performances accessible for everyone. What initiatives are you most proud of?
GV: The work that we are doing in underserved communities. Each year, four third-, fourth- or fifth-grade classrooms are selected to participate in our Disney Musicals in Schools program. Eligibility is based on the fact that they have no arts funding, and 50 percent of the enrollment is below the poverty level. Disney grants them a license to do a musical, and we send teaching artists to rehearse the show with them. Then, students come here to perform a number from the musical where their families can see them on stage. We have heard from teachers that the program has helped turn unmanageable students into engaged and excited leaders.
Additionally, our sensory-friendly programming for all ages provides safe, judgment-free performances for people with autism or other challenges. Many families who attend tell us they know each other because they see each other in doctors’ offices, where no one is having a good day. Here, they are welcomed by everyone, feel included and have a wonderful time. These comments motivate us to do more.
B&B: So many of us have come to take the arts for granted, but their absence clearly left a void during this difficult time.
GV: Even though the arts have clear business metrics in terms of ticket sales, what they actually do for us is immeasurable. They fuel our souls. They give us hope. Intellectually and emotionally, they help us reach our aspirations. Their absence put us all in a place where we weren’t together hearing the vibe of live music, hearing the spoken word or seeing a beautiful piece of art — and it shook us to the core. The opportunity to get back out and participate again as a community in Cleveland is what is going to propel us all forward.
Linda Feagler is a Cleveland freelance writer who thinks of Playhouse Square as her second home.
