Pandemic concerns forces cancellation of 2020 Fandangle
By Kathy Thomson
The Fort Griffin Fandangle board of directors met in person at the Depot the evening of Monday, May 4 and considered various options for the 2020 summer show before officially voting to postpone Fandangle until June 2021.
“I had no doubt that we could have put on a good show; we have a core group of participants with a lot of experience,” said board president Branch Bartee. “But when we talked about the age range of our audience and our cast members, we had to wonder if it would be in their best interest to have the show this year.”
Bartee said that board members had already discussed possibilities including holding the show as normal, postponing until later in 2020, or reducing performances to only one week. The ultimate decision was to postpone the show until 2021.
“Everybody who has already bought tickets will be encouraged to keep them for the 2021 show,” said Bartee. “And donations to the Fandangle are always welcome.”
He added that ticket holders will be able to get a refund if they choose to do so.
“As of right now, nothing is changing staff-wise,” Bartee said. “Our marketing director Scarlett Yates will be busy advertising the 2021 show, and the board will continue to keep a regular schedule, meeting on the second Tuesday of the month for the most part.”
Yates said that she expects many purchasers to hang on to their tickets until next June.
“A lot of folks were able to get really great seats for their first time,” Yates said. “We are all disappointed (to postpone the 2020 show), but we are brainstorming different ways to continue to make Fandangle 2021 the best show ever. I’m really hopeful that we can come up with some unique ways to raise funds and promote the Fandangle throughout 2020.”
Artistic director Lorna Ayers said that the script prepared for this year will be put on hold until 2021.
“It seems surreal to not be having Fandangle,” Ayers said. “We are ready to honor our forbearers – we will just be doing it a little later rather than sooner. But even though we are not at rehearsal, we are still very much ‘Fandangling’.”
Yates, who is a relative newcomer to Fandangle, intends to follow some advice that Ayers gave her recently and read Sallie Matthews’ book Interwoven, to become familiar with the local author’s historic account of the Matthews and Reynolds families in early Shackelford County.
Bartee, on the other hand, is a veteran member of the Fandangle cast, participating since he was an infant.
“Postponing the Fandangle is not just disappointing to other folks,” Bartee said. “This was going to be my 30th Fandangle. Now by the time I get to be in my 30th Fandangle, I’ll be 31 years old.”
The Fort Griffin Fandangle began as a play titled “Dr. Shackelford’s Paradise,” written and directed by Robert Nail Jr. and presented by Albany High School’s senior class of 1938.
With a few exceptions, the Fandangle has been performed by the people of Albany every summer since it began.
Shows did not take place during World War II or from 1957 through 1963.
The 2021 Membership Sampler was not on the agenda at this week’s meeting, according to the board president.
He doesn’t expect the directors to make a decision about the 2021 Membership Sampler until sometime early next year.
