“Cardboard Ox – All I Need (Spire Center, November 2014).”

October 27, 2020; Wicked Local (Plymouth)

We have progressed well beyond any sense that “reopening after COVID” might be a triumphant return to anything close to a stable norm. The Spire Center for Performing Arts is a case in point, having opened back up earlier this month only to close again when cases spiked again in Massachusetts, with Plymouth in particular in the high-risk “red zone.”

Even the joy of reopening was not unmitigated; the theater had been limited to 50-percent capacity, but these days indoor events are limited to 25 people, and that’s a number not even worth opening the doors for.

As this news points out, our unstable reality has thrown a wrench into the machinery behind the staging of acts, because it prevents booking—a commitment that has to be made months, if not years, in advance. That may be why the only event the theater did manage to put together this season so far was an open mic night.

Greater Plymouth Performing Arts Center Inc. President Bob Hollis, whose nonprofit manages The Spire, notes that the venue is now looking at spring, but even that is no sure thing.—Ruth McCambridge