“Pivot” is a word that’s been used a lot during the pandemic, as businesses, organizations and individuals adapt to ever-changing conditions.

Westmoreland Cultural Trust CEO April Kopas used it to describe what’s been going on at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg, where a new livestream video system has allowed the show to go on.

“For us to pivot from live to virtual events has been a massive undertaking — retooling, retraining. It’s a whole new world,” she said. “It really put us out of our comfort zone, but the team has been so eager to make it work.

“If they were afraid, they didn’t show it,” she said. “They said, we didn’t go to school for this, but let’s figure it out.”

Which they did.

The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra will stream its entire 2020-21 season, with the opener on Oct. 24 and its popular “Home for the Holidays” concert set to stream on Saturday.

Pittsburgh Ballet Conservatory took to the stage for performances of Pennsylvania Ballet Conservatory’s “The Nutcracker,” and River City Brass Band also streamed its annual “Christmas Brasstacular.”

Underwritten by a $200,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the virtual platform is a self-contained, 4-channel, live production and streaming studio with integrated control of three robotic pan, tilt and zoom video cameras mounted at loge level and on each side of the stage.

There’s also a “conductor cam” on a mobile tripod that can be positioned onstage.

Learning curve

Production manager Matt Starry is taking the lead in operating the system, with help from Jennifer Benford, director of marketing and development, and Adam Seifert, manager of corporate and community engagement.

They’ve been learning on the fly, Starry said.

“My initial training was reading the manual about eight times so I knew what buttons did what,” he said. “Then I spent about eight hours playing with the system, learning things I never thought I’d need to know.”

“My background is in live performance and lighting. I’ve been doing live concerts for 15 years, so the video learning curve is fast,” he said. “Everyone (on the crew) has to act as one brain — the camera has to move to where it needs to be.”

“I’ve had to learn to run the cameras, video editing and adding credits,” Benford said. “Luckily, it’s a very intuitive system.”

It’s also impressive in its capabilities, she said: “The cameras can zoom in so much that I can read the music on the musician’s stands.”

One chance

The video crew works in a small, windowless room in the theater’s labyrinthine backstage area, a space that houses the theater’s sound system. Not being able to see the stage presents another challenge.

“With a live show, you have a director telling you what’s coming next,” Starry said.

Shirley McMarlin | Tribune-Review Westmoreland Cultural Trust staff members Matt Starry and Jennifer Benford monitor the livestream video system in The Palace Theatre.  

That created an “oops” moment during the livestream of “The Nutcracker,” as two dancers entered from either side of the stage for a final bow.

The dancer at stage left tripped and fell, and the dancer at stage right threw her hands up to her face in surprise. With the camera trained on the second dancer, Starry said, the audience didn’t see the fall — they just saw the other dancer’s shocked reaction.

“They had to be wondering what happened,” he said. “With livestream, you get one chance. You mess up, that’s it.”

Because people have become so accustomed to seeing raw video on social media, Benford said, “I think they’re more forgiving of little glitches.”

Shirley McMarlin | Tribune-Review Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra recorded its “Home for the Holidays” concert for a Dec. 19 livestream event in The Palace Theatre in Greensburg on Dec. 11.  

Starry and crew faced another challenge with “Home for the Holidays.” Originally scheduled to be broadcast live, the concert had to be recorded on about a day’s notice when indoor gathering limits were set at 10 people beginning Dec. 12.

Masked and spaced out on stage, symphony musicians and artistic director/conductor Daniel Meyer put in a marathon rehearsal and recording session on the evening of Dec. 11.

“We recorded everything,” Starr said. “That’s about five hours of it all on a hard drive that we sent to the symphony for them to do the final edit.”

Leap of faith

“Our cultural partners took a leap of faith with us,” Kopas said. “They made commitments before we were really proficient with this. We’ve been working with them since the early stages to tweak and learn and be more proficient.”

Viewership has increased steadily, she said, from about 400 views for the initial livestream to more than 1,300 for the ballet. And it’s not just local people tuning in — “The Nutcracker” had viewers from 36 countries.

“We didn’t even anticipate that, but it’s taken The Palace to a whole new level,” Kopas said. “It affirms that we have a wider reach with this system. It’s unlikely that someone from Slovenia is going to make their way to Greensburg in person.

“We started thinking we were doing this for our own community, but now it’s so much bigger than that,” she said.

A livestream is an easy, affordable way to check out a type of entertainment you might not otherwise get dressed up and go out to see, Kopas said.

“If you’re not a fan already, this is a really good way to broaden your experience and test your interest,” she said.

‘Let’s use it’

The livestream system isn’t just for use by the ballet or symphony, either. It’s available to smaller groups and individuals, too, and there are subsidies for nonprofits.

“Market-wise, we’ve tried to make it affordable but sustainable to pay the utilities,” Kopas said.

That presents a golden opportunity for local acts, Starry said.

“This might be the best time to be a local artist, because there are no big acts touring,” he said. “Local acts might have opportunities they might not have otherwise. We hope that’s our next step, to get some local acts in.”

“You don’t know who’s gonna watch it,” he added. “Some guy in Hungary might like your music and invite you to come over and tour. Let’s share what’s going on in Greensburg with the world.”

If you can’t play music or dance, you can stream your wedding, reveal party or other celebration, Starry said.

“The system is there. Let’s try to use it.”

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