COVID-19 Closures: Stephen C. Kallas ( "The Spongebob Musical" National Tour)
The following was published on March 24, 2020, via Actor Aesthetic by Maggie Bera (actoraesthetic.com). It was reprinted with permission from Maggie Bera. The article features Stephen Kallas (Epsilon Sigma/Wagner 2017).
The COVID-19 crisis has caused a devastatingly massive wave of performance cancellations across the country, leaving actors out of work. Broadway, regional theatre, national tours, and more were forced to close much earlier than expected. I’ve been reaching out to the artists affected. Here are their stories.
By Stephen C. Kallas
For the past 7 months I have been living in Bikini Bottom as part of the cast of the 1st National Tour of The Spongebob Musical. I was lucky enough to play Old Man Jenkins while understudying the 3 skateboarding rockstars of the ‘Electric Skates’ and the multi-talented, fully artistic and always bitter Squidward Q. Tentacles.
I grew up watching the TV show and was lucky enough to see the musical while it was on Broadway. As I sat in the audience watching the show, I leaned over to my girlfriend and said, “I feel like this is a show I could do. Like, I could easily see myself doing this show.” Lo and behold a year later, after 7 times(or was it 8 idk) in the room, I finally got the call that I would be joining the cast of this amazing show for its first national tour.
Our tour was different from most first national tours as we were non-union. (Preface: We already dealt with the backlash about this, but this problem is between the producers and the union and not with the actors). Because of this, we were booked for many different venues through the run of our show. During our run, we played four total weeks of small one nighter theatres (three weeks and then a separate week) but also played larger, big name theatres (3000+ capacity) for multiple weeks. We were lucky enough to pass through 24 states and see some of the amazing cities and places through our beautiful country.
While crowd sizes changed and each venue had its challenges (some more than others), the one thing that never changed was the reactions of the audiences and the love and energy we could feel from each and every person as we brought our story to them.
On March 10th, just over a week after my birthday, we started performances at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. A beautiful, 2,800+ seat, state of the art theatre. We had just finished a week long stretch of one nighters starting in Idaho Falls, ID and stopping along in Butte, MT; (stop over in Spokane, WA); Tacoma, WA; Eugene, OR; and Yakima, WA. This all happened as more and more reports were coming in about COVID-19. We realized that we were headed towards the flashpoint of the yet to be called pandemic.
We as a cast sounded the alarm to our company regarding our worries and they were very helpful in taking on this virus. They hired an extra stagehand to wipedown all of the props before, during and after the show as well as other high traffic areas. We limited our interactions with the audience (we had A LOT of house entrances & interactions). We even stopped stage dooring, which holds a dear place in my heart, especially with this show.
We started our performance that week and even played a 10:30am student matinee to 2,000+ students which was one of the most amazing audiences I have ever played to. (At this point there were no warnings or restrictions in place in Denver). The same day as that performance, we received news from our producers that our first week in our upcoming run in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre had been canceled because of the state wide shutdown until the end of the month. However at that point we were still expecting to play the second two weeks. The next day, Friday the 13th as it would be, we were summoned for a full company, mandatory meeting as the rest of our performances in Denver had also been canceled.
We all showed up and came on stage where our set was half apart and raised up to have a clear deck; a looming and eerie sight. While we all knew the circumstances of which we were meeting, I had this weird feeling that this could be the last time we all were in the same place. We talked, raised questions and concerns and then said see ya later to each other. I’m glad I took the time to say goodbye to most of our company at that moment.
A week later on Friday March 20th Bikini Bottom finally fell to Mt. Humongous. (If you know the show you get it lol how Spongebob-y). We were emailed about a mandatory company ‘zoom’ meeting where we were told that because LA was our “anchor leg” of the tour, (we were on track to fully sell out at least a week’s worth of performances there), and because some other venues following that had decided to preemptively cancel, it was not financially feasible for us to continue with the tour. We had five more months, eighteen more venues and seven more states left on our tour. All together, we ended too soon.
My heart was crushed, my spirit was gone and I felt defeated. Our cast was one of the most supportive, loving and caring casts I have ever met in my entire life. It hurts to know that they are not constantly in my life any more and that the adventure had to end far too soon. I made some amazing friends on that show and I know I will carry them through my life forever.
Right now, while we are not able to perform the show, The Spongebob Musical is the show I feel the world needs. Our story addressed how to face a looming disastrous and catastrophic event with optimism, cooperation and fortitude; all while “scattering joy” to our audiences, as our director, Tina Landau, would say.
While I may not have the chance to go on as Sqidward or play some venues I looked forward to like the Dolby or to revisit KC Starlight, I know that this was the decision that had to be made. I know in the long run that this will help and that life will move forward towards other new and exciting projects. My heart may still be heavy and hurting but everyday I remember more and more the joy I had doing the show. And that is what I take with me from all of this.
We should all take a look right now, while we have the time, to truly appreciate what we have. We should enjoy nature. We should appreciate the relationships we have and rekindle the ones we have let grow dim. We need to look inside and see how we can choose to improve ourselves so that we, in turn, can help others. And we need to look at how we as a global community have affected the Earth and how we can rectify that. I don’t expect anyone to write the next big hit or to come out of this looking like a bodybuilder. But I do expect people to reflect and take a moment to breathe, refocus and show others how caring and supportive we as a people can be in these scary, divisive times. Let’s come together as a people, as a nation and a globe to show the true love and graciousness that is humanity, the same way the characters of Bikini Bottom did every day for 160 performances on the road.
“In the world renowned, Bikini Bottom. How I Love this town, Bikini Bottom. As the sun shines down on a beautiful Bikini Bottom Day!”
“...And whatever happens next, I’m glad I’m here with you!”
Stephen C. Kallas is a NYC based artist and native of Connecticut. Stephen is a proud graduate of Wagner College with a Double Concentration in Performance and Technical Studies. His performance credits include The Spongebob Musical as Old Man Jenkins and understudy for Squidward and the Electric Skates, Fireside Theatre’s Newsies as Davey, Kansas City Starlight’s Wizard of OZ as a Crow and a Flying Jitterbug, Arizona Broadway Theatre’s Catch Me If You Can as the understudy for Frank Abagnale Jr.. He has also swung and understudied and performed in many other regional productions. Off the stage, Stephen is the founder and creator of SpikemarK Products, a company which makes the Actor’s Toolbox dressing station kits and also makes Custom Audition Cuts. StephenCKallas.com, @StephenCKallas
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