On Sept. 10, Step Afrika! will bring its dance, song and storytelling to the Lied Center for Performing Arts stage in the first performance there since March and the initial offering in a fall season that will be far different from the first 30 years at the Lied.
The 11 shows, scheduled from September to January, will be presented with socially distanced seating that limits capacity in the 2,200 seat hall to just over 500.
“We basically booked a lot of the season twice. We started the season, we had a plan for the fall and in the spring,†said Lied executive director Bill Stephan. “Then a lot of the things that were planned for the fall are now scheduled for next fall, 2021. … Flexibility and change have been the key words."
The socially distanced seating will have at least 6 feet of space between each group that attends a performance. That means only six or eight people can be seated in any row, which creates a challenge for ticketing. As a result, tickets will be assigned by the Lied ticket office.
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“Most of the seating is available in pairs,†said Matthew Boring, Lied’s associate director of marketing and patron development. “If you need three, four, five seats, send your order and we'll try and do it the best that we can. … It's definitely going to require human brain power. We're going to be sending all the orders by hand, which is what we did for 26 years. It's sort of the only way you can make sure that you maximize the seats.â€
Masks will be required in the Lied Center, following University of Nebraska-Lincoln protocol. Increased cleaning and sanitizing that meets or exceeds university and health department guidance also will be implemented.
Because the seating capacity is so dramatically reduced, several of the fall performances will have two shows a day — a matinee and a 7:30 p.m. show.
“That puts the capacity closer to 50% when you have both shows,†Boring said. “That has taken some flexibility of the artists and their touring schedule, our venue and facility crew in terms of the cleaning. But it definitely makes some of the bigger shows like The Capitol Steps, like Derrick Davis, a possibility when we're able to have 1,000 tickets across two shows.â€
Because of the uncertainty that shows might not be held or patrons may not feel comfortable attending a show for which they've purchased tickets, all subscriber tickets will be fully refundable up to showtime. If a show is postponed or canceled, patrons can receive either an online credit or a full refund.
For the spring season, that begins Jan. 19 with the musical “Come From Away,†the Lied anticipates operating at full capacity and has booked larger shows throughout the spring.
“We have the social distance season plan for the fall,†Stephan said. “Spring we are hoping to be back to normal, which would have intermissions and regular seating. We’ll be announcing that and putting those shows on sale later in the fall, once we can determine what the environment’s like.â€
The spring calendar now includes five events that were set for this spring at Lied that were postponed due to the pandemic.
They are, in the order they were scheduled this spring: Super Diamond, Michael Londra and the Celtic Fire, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,†and Michael Feinstein.
Boston Pops on Tour, originally set for April 5, will now play the Lied on Oct. 28 as part of the 2021-22 season.
The 2021-22 season will open with Herbie Hancock, who was scheduled to open the 2020-21 season. That show and several others were pushed back a year because of the reduced capacity requirements for this fall.