By Blake Haas
NORMAL – The Normal Theater announced they are reopening their doors after Gov. Pritzker softened COVID-19 mitigations in McLean County.
However, according to Normal Civic Arts Manager Adam Fox, a reopening timeline is still unclear.
“It was always our intention as soon as we could reopen to start to get that process moving, but it is very much a process. We are still a couple of weeks off from being able to realistic of doing that, but yes, the Normal Theater reopening with limited capacity, with the same restrictions we had in the place back in the fall that is eminent that will be coming soon, so that light is on the horizon.”
On Sunday, Gov. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health moved Region 2, which includes McLean County, to Tier 1 mitigations allowing customers indoors capped at 25 people or 25% of capacity, whichever is lower.
“We never had to go down to the 25 person capacity, so we are still looking for clarity on that to know exactly where we are at. We had been operating at a 50 person capacity; we are going to verify and see where we were at with that. And again, two to three weeks from now, which is the earliest we were looking at, it may be different from where it is right now,” Fox told WJBC’s, Scott Miller. “But know we are trying to weigh all those factors considering any number of things, including what we are going to show when we reopen.”
Fox added that when the theater does reopen, they will follow the same model as they did in the fall, meaning no concessions, and patrons must wear a mask during the entire showing.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
