Vice President of Communications for The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory Lisa Condit spoke with Hank Stolz about The Hanover Theatre celebrating 13 years and all the exciting things that lie ahead. Read on for highlights from the interview, or listen to the full interview below. Then tune in to Talk of the Commonwealth with Hank Stolz on WCRN 830AM Fridays at 9 AM and Saturdays at 1 PM for more behind-the-scenes interviews.

Hank: I can really remember the whole red carpet opening of The Hanover Theatre. It was 13 years ago; I still can’t get over it. It was really one of those “Man, Worcester is on its way!” moments.  It’s a big deal.

Lisa: Fast forward 12 years, we grew to a seven show Broadway subscription series. We launched our Loyal Subscriber Program where we had 90% of our subscribers renew without knowing the titles because they wanted those great seats. They wanted to show that they supported the theatre so that we could be more competitive and take a bigger risk with getting some newer titles. 

Our First Main Stage Live Audience

Hank: It really has been such a year, but now there’s a lot of positives starting to come out.  

Lisa: We are about to have our first performance on the main stage for a live audience, it’s the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP). YAGP is the world largest global network of dance and it fulfills its mission of dance education through scholarship, auditions, masterclasses, alumni services, educational outreach activities, performances and films. It is unbelievable. It’s coming next weekend and parents are going to be able to watch their children perform on stage. It just feels so good to have that creative juice and energy coming back.  

Safety is our Top Priority

 Hank: I know that the conventional wisdom is, there will be some people who will be leery about coming back. I don’t run into them. I’m totally honest that the only people that I talk to and run into, are people who are like, “I cannot wait to go to the theatre, to the ballpark, to the movies, to my restaurant, to wherever!” People are getting the vaccine and are going to be right back. 

Lisa: I think the vaccine and people being vaccinated is a big key. Don’t forget, Actors Equity is saying it’s okay for people to be in public and to be singing and to be rehearsing. There are a lot of checkpoints, which is good. It’s a good thing as far as keeping everybody safe.

Exciting Programming Ahead

Lisa: We’re really looking forward to Julius Caesar this summer, which is going to be incredible on the common. Livy has been working on the cast. I think she’s going to be ready to make cast announcements next Friday, which is exciting. She has a whole Worc at Play program with Shakespeare actor training for 18-year-olds and above, she’s going to be working with them and then they’ll be part of the Julius Caesar cast as well. That really helps us make everything more accessible to more of the people here in our community.

Lisa: I can’t wait to be rocking it out at the Hanover Theatre again.  We’re excited because Ricky Duran is the first concert that we have booked Saturday, September 18th. He’s coming back, and what a great person to be reopening the concert scene for us. 

We’re going to celebrate the fact that we’re 13 and we made it through the pandemic.  I really urge everybody if you’re if you’re looking for something to do this summer for the budding artist and theatrical performer, check out The Hanover Theatre.