Hoboken’s Mile Square Theater was just three weeks away from putting on a student play of “The Addams Family” when Gov. Phil Murphy issued a “stay-at-home order” on March 21, 2020.

The night before, the kids decided to put on the play for whoever could attend.

“They’re said, ‘Alright, this could be the last night we’re in the theater for a while. Let’s just put on the show,’” general manager David Zimmerman told NJ Advance Media. “And they’re half-rehearsed, half-costumed, half-set.

“That was the last time they’ve ever done it.”

At Two River Theater in Red Bank, their final show before COVID was a student matinee of “Radio Golf.” That set remained on stage for two years, frozen in time until the theater reopened in 2022.

“We dusted off the set and went right back to it,” said director of education Kate Cordero.

The height of the COVID-19 pandemic may now feel worlds away, but the impact on the entertainment industry continues to be felt, especially at the independent theater level.

Many theater companies across the country have reported experiencing a lagging recovery since many stages reopened fully in 2022. Many companies have had to permanently reduce staff or close down entirely due to the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The STAGE ACT, introduced to Congress in 2024, would have allocated $1 billion annually to the non-profit theater industry, but was never taken up for a vote.

Additionally, theaters that weathered the financial pressures of the pandemic still re-emerged in a new world posing new challenges. Foot traffic has changed due to remote and hybrid work. People are less inclined to spend a night out at local productions.

Venues of all kinds are battling with variable attention spans. Consuming vast amounts of viral and short-form content right from home has not only impacted behavior inside the theater with phone usage, but also an aversion to long runtimes.

What does the audience really want?

For the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, staying afloat during the height of the pandemic meant utilizing the available resources provided by Congress.

“We have a smart and passionate board of executives committee who looked at what was happening with the pandemic and said, ‘This is not gonna be here just for two weeks. This is gonna be a long time,” said executive director Alexander Diaz. They fought hard to get funding from the Save Our Stages Act and PPP. But there was nobody in the office. Those who weren’t furloughed had their salaries cut in half.”

Producing shows and productions in 2025 presents a different set of challenges, like audiences who are now more discerning with how they spend their money.

Mile Square Theater executive director Elizabeth DiCandilo had a conversation with students at Stevens Institute of Technology about how the local scene could be more engaging to young people.

“They told me, ‘We have an organization (on campus) that we can go see Broadway for either free or low cost. If I’m gonna take someone to a theater on a date, I’m gonna do the impressive thing and take them to Broadway,” DiCandilo said.

In response, Mile Square Theater has offered several ticket deals, which have sparked some interest, while ticket sales try to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Diaz has also noticed a phenomenon with Bergen PAC shows where audiences wait until the last minute to purchase tickets, especially for a big act.

“What we’re seeing is that people don’t want to buy tickets ahead of time,” said Diaz. “They usually wait to buy on the day of. It’s tough to plan financially. Where artists used to sell 800, 900, or 1,000 tickets, they may now sell only 200 or 300 tickets.”

Diaz also noted that artist fees have risen due to an overall decline in touring and performances since the onset of the pandemic — artists themselves trying to make up for lost time — and are trying to offset increased production costs. A ticket that used to be $20 before the pandemic may now be $40. This provides an additional challenge when pricing tickets.

“The bigger the names, the more expensive the price tag,” Diaz noted.

With the rise of social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube capturing the attention of young people more than ever, Two River Theater has noticed a demand for behind-the-scenes content of their shows.

“I love the fact that our audience is more discerning and isn’t just interested in the thing that we want them to buy, but also in how it is being made,” Cordero said. ”How are the costumes being made? What is our front-of-house team doing when the show is up? There is more of a demand for the kind of humanity that surrounds and infuses the making of art.”

Two River has utilized platforms like TikTok and Instagram more in their promotional plans as a tool to spur audience investment in performances and an institution on a deeper level, rather than “show up” and “goodbye.”

“Selling shows, we’ve really had to, everybody’s favorite word, ‘pivot,’ away from ‘Hey, we’re going to sell you a ticket to a show. Pony up and come see it,’” said Two River director of marketing Jessica Sherman. “Now, our audience members across the spectrum of ages are more discerning, and that’s great.”

New formulas for new times

While foot traffic in Hoboken has changed drastically due to work-from-home and hybrid situations, the scrappy Mile Square Theater is determined to get the word out, even with limited resources.

“There’s a different level of sophistication and another level of skill that calls for digital and physical promotional operations, said Zimmerman, noting the theater’s use of social media for promotion. ”No matter how solid we are, we are still a fairly bootstrap-y organization.”

Two River Theater has positioned itself to be more integrated within the Monmouth County community, allowing the space to be used for art shows and special events, such as drum circles, and working closely with foundations like the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Foundation.

Their crown jewel is a new program named “Community Playmaking.” People from underserved communities can enroll in an eight-week workshop, free of charge, and learn how to construct their play. At the end of the program, they get to see trained actors act out what they made.

“These institutions have structurally excluded people for a long, long time,” said Justin Waldman, Two River Theater’s artistic director. “I think like our job and our challenge is to build the new pathways for people to be able to engage with the work that we’re doing, and to have art and theater as part of their lives.”

Bergen PAC strives to become a backdrop to the digital world. They are exploring possibilities of being a space not only for live performances, but also for sports broadcasts.

“We would love to have watch parties for the World Cup here,” said Diaz. “If ESPN or NBC wanted to use the theater for pre- or post-game interviews, we’re not too far from MetLife Stadium. Bergen PAC is a massive generator for local businesses and restaurants. We want to keep it alive to ensure that we’re providing a space for extraordinary artists, world-class entertainers, and using that space effectively.”

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Murjani Rawls may be reached at [email protected]