SEQUIM — After a successful Feb. 7 preview of the American classic “Death of a Salesman” at Olympic Theatre Arts, opening night was trounced by snowfall.
As a result, the production team, cast, and staff at OTA have decided to shift their season to accommodate a complete restart of the show run at 7:30 p.m. March 1.
The show will run for three weekends in March at Caldwell Main Stage at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Opening weekend will be March 1-3. Those performances will be followed by the second weekend March 7-10.
Closing weekend will be March 14-17.
Friday and Saturday performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $18 for the general public, $16 for OTA members and $12 for students with school identification card, and are available at the theater box office from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays or online at olympictheatrearts.org/OTA.
March 7 will be a traditional “Pay What You Will” show at 7:30 p.m., an opportunity for theater fans to enjoy the show at whatever price suits their budgets.
March 14 will be “Talk Back Night,” where the performance starts at 6:30 p.m. to provide time after the show for audience members to engage in informative conversation with the cast and crew after the play.
Production manager Lorra Cornetet sees the delay as an opportunity.
“I’m always an optimist,” she said.
“This is a chance to make a great play even better. We can give everything an even finer polish — nuances in the lighting design, character work … everything can get even better.”
Director Merv Wingard intends to take advantage of the extra time to address feedback from preview guests.
“I think we’re going to be quite successful when we get going on it again,” he said.
Actors also will need the hiatus from the reset to get back into their performances after being forced away from the stage by the weather.
“I don’t know exactly at what time the lines start to leak out of your head, but they haven’t leaked out of mine yet,” said Joel Hoffman, who plays the lead role of Willy Loman and has been living in a motel in Sequim because of stormy weather.
“We had gotten the show right up to performance levels,” he said. “We’d worked really hard for about three or four months, and then to have it just stop was very disappointing.
“We’re going to have three or four run-throughs before opening, and I think that’s all we’ll need to get it back up to speed.”
The season’s next play in line for OTA, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” has been moved to July to keep OTA’s next main stage musical, “First Date,” on schedule for the end of April.
OTA office staff has been calling patrons since the decision was made to inform them of the changes.
“People have been really glad to hear from us,” said volunteer coordinator Zaira Aahz, who also has to re-wrangle a considerable staff of theatre volunteers such as ushers and bartenders.
“We’ve been getting understanding and even grateful responses from patrons.”
