South Bend Civic Theatre suspending all in-person performances

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The South Bend Civic Theatre has made the decision to suspend all in-person performances for the rest of 2020 due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. According to officials, it was not an easy decision, nor one they wanted to make but feel it was the responsible one.

Earlier in the summer the theatre created and enforced a strict safety program to keep cast and production teams safe.

The theatre had been monitoring data from the Harvard Global Health Institute, paying specific attention to the number of new cases per 100,000 residents.

They had decided that if that number grew above 10, marking it as “Accelerated Spread”, rehearsals would be held online for a week, and if it stayed there during the following week the production would be canceled.

As of July 18 that number for St. Joseph County was 17.2, marking it well above what the theatre considered safe.

Tickets already reserved for the remainder of the 2020 season will be honored in the following year, and any FLEXPASS credits will rollover to the end of 2021.

The Civic has plans to produce nearly all of the shows that didn’t make it to stage due to the pandemic as well as holding several virtual events in the coming weeks.