Reston theatrical group adding venue, adjusting again to pandemic

Amid a flurry of pandemic-related challenges, a nonprofit theatrical group is finding ways to keep audiences captivated.

The pandemic has riled the entertainment industry, halting shows amid quarantines and recently causing RCP to reschedule two productions as coronavirus cases skyrocketed earlier this winter.

With average case rates lessening, Reston Community Players has a new show starting this month that’s strangely not at all connected with COVID-19 despite its name, “A Delightful Quarantine.”

“There has been so much joy in our facility these past few months since we have been back at work,” RCP President Kate Keifer said in an email.

The upcoming comedic play is set to open Feb. 25 at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage, which may be just what audiences need right now, Keifer noted. It’s about seven households quarantining amid an extraterrestrial visit.

“‘A Delightful Quarantine’ is unique and witty and has something for everyone to relate to in it,” Liz Mykietyn, director of the production, said in a statement. “The title caught my eye in a theater catalogue I was perusing over a decade ago and after buying the script, I knew I had to do it. Little did I know at that time that we’d all face our own quarantine.”

The theatrical company has been running shows since 1966, and Keifer says that donations through virtual productions and fundraising events have helped the organization continue its mission.

“What keeps all of our volunteers going through the past two years is the hope and promise of a new show, a new production, or a new creative spark to attach ourselves to,” she also wrote.

Last fall, the organization also launched its first apprentice program production, where teens delivered a satirical show called “The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)”

They’ll be expanding that program this summer, too, using the new Capital One Hall venue from July 8-17 for a production of “Newsies.”