By JONAH LOSSIAH
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Very few industries took a bigger hit from the pandemic than entertainment, and the Cherokee Historical Association (CHA) was no exception.
While much of the social anxiety involving COVID-19 has passed, many issues from the pandemic are still lingering. CHA is currently preparing a refreshed plan that will lay out new goals and projects for the next few years.
The Cherokee One Feather recently sat down with CHA Executive Director John Tissue and Communications and Development Director Chelsey Moore to discuss aspects of this plan. That discussion will be broken into two articles, with this piece focusing on recovery and immediate steps. There will be a follow-up focusing on the long-term projects that CHA is hoping to implement.
A fight scene in the outdoor drama, “Unto These Hills” (Photo by Cherokee Historical Association)
“We are down from 2019, pre-COVID. But we are still sustainable and making it work. We’re trying to adjust really to a labor issue. Which has been easier at the Drama for whatever reason. We have a great team at both places, but we’ve been able to retain more people from the Drama to do stuff than we have at the village,” said Tissue.
He said that staffing has been the worst lingering symptom from the pandemic. Tissue said that the Village would normally staff 55 people, but they have been operating with 28. Because of this, the Village had to downsize its offerings considerably.
“We had to kind of curtail our programming up there. We no longer had the time of war mini reenactments. We didn’t have the dance a couple of times a day, just because we didn’t have the staff to do it. We’re planning on bringing all of that back this year. In addition, we have Foundation money to start redoing the stockade and improving the exhibits in there, the trails, and that kind of thing.”
He said that while it’s hurt the Village the most, staffing one of the main problems they face for the entirety of CHA. Tissue said that he understands why they’re having trouble hiring, but there’s not much they can do in the immediate future.
“I think the fight that we have there is that people need full-time work, benefits, those kinds of things. Seasonal work is hard. It doesn’t come with the benefits. We could be more competitive on pay range, but we are where we are. We ended up getting through the pandemic because we had a PPP loan and shutter vendor operator grants and those kinds of things. That helped maintain our core product and get it back open,” said Tissue.
Tissue and Moore said that they have been doing a lot of analysis the last few years, but now CHA is focused on growth.
“We are working on a new strategic plan. The Board is engaged in doing some planning for the next three to five years,” said Tissue. “We’d like to be through the strategic plan within the first third of the year. I wanted to be done by the first quarter, by the end of March, but I don’t think that’s realistic. But I think we can get it done in the first third of the year before the drama opens,” said Tissue.
The immediate crux of that plan will be a new grant that has been approved by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. Tissue said that grant is for just over $400,000 and will be an immense help with doing the refurbishment work at the Mountainside Theatre.
“To redo our main set piece there on the stage. Which is the mountain set. One is to update it. Two, that it’s designed in a way that it can go away if we were to have a concert there. To get it to go away, we’re also talking about putting in a large roll-up door. Like a large garage door in the back of the set so that we can roll stuff on and off the stage much easier,” said Tissue.
“You won’t see that during the show, it would be behind the mountain. But if we were to do concerts in the Fall or those kinds of things, we would have the ability to get smaller trucks in there and then roll their equipment onto the stage. As part of the new mountain set piece, we want to keep the sand, but I think about six or eight inches below the sand we’re going to pour a concrete pad. Maybe not for the whole stage, but enough to be able to get a band set up there. Or at least a hard stage on top of the sand that has a solid foundation on it.”
Tissue said that they are hopeful that a string of concerts will bring variety and freshness to the Theatre. Further additions to the Mountainside Theatre will be reviewed in the follow-up article. Moore said she is excited for the additions but is just as happy to have the current facilities updated and improved.
“Eagle Rock, the mountain, is definitely due for an upgrade. It’s been in for about 10 years. Our pit area, which is where a lot of our electronics that operate our sound system and light system are housed, is due for an upgrade. And, unfortunately, it is not water tight. Being in the outdoors, keeping those things dry is important. So, yeah. Definitely could use some infrastructure facelifts,” said Moore.
Tissue added to this, stating that some of these improvements were in the plans 15 years ago.
“In 2008/09, the Tribe and the Foundation helped us do a major upgrade for the public spaces at the Theatre. So, we got the new seats and the steps and that kind of stuff. At the time, we were working towards doing the same type of upgrades for the stage backward towards the backstage. When the recession in ’08/’09 hit, that just wasn’t feasible,” said Tissue.
CHA is still confirming plans for construction and refurbishment, but Tissue and Moore said they are excited for the upcoming season. The canceling of Alice in Wonderland for the spring gives the company time to make necessary changes in the short-term.
“Unto These Hills” and the Village will be back, of course. They said that Dracula is scheduled to return for the Fall. Tissue said they are hoping to implement concerts, but nothing is booked. Moore said that they are also picking up steam with The Gathering.
“We launched that in Fall of 2022. They’re back in rehearsal now for this school semester, Spring 2023. They’ve already got a couple of weeklong shows booked. They’re going out to Stokes County for a week, they’re going out to Charlotte for a week. We’re going to be bringing the Gathering back for the 2023-2024 school year as well. We’re really excited about that,” said Moore.
Tissue said they have weathered a storm and now are looking to get back to full strength. Once this new strategic plan is solidified, improvements will begin to come online. According to the team, the next few years are going to be very important for CHA.
