Westcoast Black Theatre cancels world premiere musical due to positive COVID-19 tests

Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·3 min read
From left, Casey Murphy, Brian L. Boyd and Aleah Vassell were to star in the world premiere of “Ruby” at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. The show was canceled and will be produced at a later date because of positive COVID-19 test results.
From left, Casey Murphy, Brian L. Boyd and Aleah Vassell were to star in the world premiere of “Ruby” at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. The show was canceled and will be produced at a later date because of positive COVID-19 test results.

The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has been trying to produce Artistic Director Nate Jacobs’ original musical “Ruby” for two years, but COVID-19 is forcing the theater and audiences to wait longer to see it.

The musical that was originally scheduled to open in 2020 and then postponed until this month has now been canceled, at least for the time being.

“We are just heartbroken. It is depressing to have to do this again,” Executive Director Julie Leach said Thursday in announcing the cancellation of the production.

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Positive COVID-19 cases among the fully vaccinated cast and crew forced a two-week delay in the opening, which was rescheduled for Jan. 29. But more positive breakthrough cases led Jacobs and Leach to cancel the production.

“Every time we have a case, you have to pause rehearsals for five days and you just can’t get through the show. This is too complex a show for us to do for this time period in the world,” Leach said. “We have 20 cast members and 10 backstage people and there’s too much contact going on to manage the current outbreak.”

Julie Leach, executive director of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, and Nate Jacobs, founder and artistic director.
Julie Leach, executive director of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, and Nate Jacobs, founder and artistic director.

For now, the company plans to finish rehearsals and make an archival film recording to use as reference for what was done to help in a future production, she said. The actors will then go home and the theater will bring in a much smaller group of performers for the upcoming musical revue “Broadway in Black,” which is scheduled to open March 10. Two one-act shows are scheduled to follow the musical.

“We want to lower the complexity of our operations,” Leach said. “That’s step one for this year, to keep actors from being on top of each other when we’re performing one show and rehearsing another at the same time.”

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Company members are tested twice a week, and Leach said none of the people who have tested positive became seriously ill. “Some people have had cold and flu-like symptoms,” she said.

Jacobs and his brother Michael, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., wrote the musical about Ruby McCollum, a prominent Black woman who was convicted in the murder of Dr. C. Leroy Adams, a doctor and newly elected state senator in Live Oak, Florida in the 1950s. McCollum later claimed that the youngest of her four children was the result of a non-consensual relationship with Adams. Nate Jacobs said it was impressive that at a time when a Black convict in such a case might have been killed, McCollum survived after spending time in a mental institution and had some sort of free life before she died.

The case drew national attention and was covered by the prominent writer Zora Neale Hurston.

In a statement, Jacobs said he was “tremendously disappointed that we are not able to present ‘Ruby’ at this time, but I’m grateful that we had the opportunity to move the production further down the road.”

The theater will be offering refunds to patrons for the lost show. For more information: 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org

Leach said she is reluctant to project a date when the show could finally be presented to live audiences.

“We will do it when a show of this size and complexity can be done safely. It will be dependent upon conditions,” Leach said. “Maybe we can do it in June, if conditions are good again in the country, like last spring. Maybe we can bring this cast back if they are available and have the inclination. We will do ‘Ruby.’ We are committed to ‘Ruby.’ It’s a beautiful amazing story and we just want to do it justice with a good production.”

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Westcoast Black Theatre cancels world premiere musical due to COVID