OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
East Oregonian
Stage:
Continued from Page A1
choral performance. Several
students tested positive for
COVID-19, and the show
was postponed two weeks
to Feb. 25 and 26. That delay
pushed “A Gentleman’s
Guide to Love and Murder,”
a stage musical planned to
open March 10, into EOU’s
fall term.
“It’s exciting to be back
and yet it’s frustrating at the
same time. The biggest prob-
lem with bringing theater
back is COVID is still doing
everything it can to prevent it
from coming back,” said Ken
Wheeler, associate professor
of theater at EOU. “As much
as things are getting better
and we’re seeing the sun at
the end of the storm, it’s still
aff ecting it.”
For tickets to “We’ve Got
Your Number,” visit www.
eou.edu/music.
Returning to the stage
during a pandemic requires
fl exibility and creativity.
When the pandemic hit,
the Elgin Opera House’s
spring 2020 production of
“Matilda” was only weeks
away from opening. Instead
of opening that March, the
show was postponed for a
year and a half.
In between, the Opera
House tried outdoor produc-
tions as well as a fully
recorded production of “High
School Musical Jr.” During
this musical, rehearsed in the
winter of 2021, actors were
split into cohort groups that
rehearsed and recorded on
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, FIle
Eastern Oregon University students rehearse “We’ve Got Your Number” on Jan. 26, 2022. After a delay due to COVID-19 cases
among the cast, performances are set for Feb. 25 and 26 at McKenzie Theatre in La Grande.
diff erent days with no live
audience.
“When we announced we
were recording ‘High School
Musical,’ we thought we’d
get just a few people audi-
tion,” said Terry Hale, Elgin
Opera House executive artis-
tic director. “We had 70 or 80
kids from fi ve diff erent coun-
ties. That’s how important
this is.”
Hermiston High School
also saw large participation
numbers with “Beauty and
the Beast,” a show they’ve
been rehearsing since the
middle of November.
“(I wish people knew)
how hard these students work
and how much time, eff ort
and talent are needed to put a
full show together,” Bemrose
said. “It takes weeks to learn
lines, music, choreogra-
phy, organize props and set,
and get all of the moving
pieces together, including
the orchestra, who rehearse
separately and join us during
our dress rehearsal week. We
rehearse at least two hours
after school during our
production months, and dress
rehearsal week we rehearse
after school four to fi ve hours
fi nalizing everything.”
T hose hu nd red s of
hours do not include the
extra pandemic struggle of
rehearsing with masks or
returning to the stage after a
two-year hiatus.
“Everyone is out of prac-
tice with the process, but
we’ll work at overcom-
ing those handicaps just so
we can put the show on,”
Wheeler said. “There’s noth-
ing that beats a live shared
experience in a darkened
theater. That communica-
tion between the actors and
the audience, there’s nothing
that compares to that. We’re
striving to get back to that as
soon as possible even if we
have to take strange precau-
tions to be able to do it. It’s
worth it. “
In Baker City, Eastern
Oregon Regional Theatre
has presented a few shows
— the children’s theater
presented “Jungle Book” in
the fall of 2021, and “Pride
& Prejudice” wrapped up a
two-weekend run Feb. 20.
“Because theater is
known as collaborative art, it
was one of the few art forms
almost totally shut down
A9
during the pandemic,” said
Abby Dennis, EORT artis-
tic director. “Since our art
form requires being around
others, theater people were
completely cut off from
being able to work through
the overwhelming emotions
from the past two years.”
Bemrose said seeing a
show come together is the
greatest reward of theater,
along with how accom-
plished the cast and crew
feel. Hale said it is the way
the performing arts bring joy
and life to those on and off
the stage.
“As a society, we focused
so much on being afraid of
death (in the pandemic) that
we stopped doing the things
that brought us joy, the things
that made us alive,” Hale
said. “One of the best ways
to celebrate life is through the
arts. If people keep coming
out, we’ll keep doing it.”
Dennis said returning to
the stage is “bittersweet.”
“I love being able to enter-
tain my community, but it
hurts to think of everything
we’ve lost over the past two
years,” she said.
EORT’s 2022 schedule
includes “Women Playing
Hamlet,” “God of Carnage,”
and the children’s theater
will present “The Enchanted
Bookshop” and “Macbeth.”
In Pendleton, tickets are
still available for “Little
Women” for shows March 3-5.
For information, go to www.
elginoperahouse.com.
“It’s going to be an amaz-
ing show,” Marshall said.
“Come fall in love with these
sisters and have a great night
of theater again — fi nally.”
Flood:
Continued from Page A1
Katy Nesbitt/For EO Media Group
Weeks of subfreezing temperatures have held snow in the
higher elevations of Northeastern Oregon, as is evident in
this February 2022 photo of the Wallowa Mountains. Despite
reasonable snowpack levels in the high country, however,
most of the region still is facing severe drought conditions.
Drought:
Continued from Page A1
below normal precipitation
and has 55 inches of snow-
pack with a 33% snow water
equivalent.
While the snowpack and
water levels look pretty
good right now, North-
eastern Oregon is facing
down the barrel of another
drought year, according to
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administra-
tion. According to www.
d roug ht.gov, Wal lowa
County was down 0.69
inches of precipitation in
January. The entire county
is considered to be in severe
drought status, and 44.36%
of the county is experienc-
ing extreme drought condi-
tions.
Union County is down
0.27 inches of its average
precipitation. The entire
county is considered to be
under severe drought condi-
tions while 4.3% is experi-
encing extreme drought.
And Umatilla County is
down 0.2 inches of precipita-
tion from a normal January.
This puts all of the county
under severe drought condi-
tions, with 33.77% consid-
ered to be under extreme
drought conditions.
The extended forecast
for Northeastern Oregon
calls for 33% to 40% below
normal precipitation with a
40% to 50% chance of above
normal temperatures.
is grant-funded and the city
is hoping to work with the
Umatilla County Water and
Soil Conservation District
to secure more federal fund-
ing to fortify the banks of the
creek.
The Umatilla River is a
diff erent beast entirely.
Unlike McKay Creek, the
Umatilla is undammed and
without a reservoir. Corbett
said the most direct method
of mitigation would be to
install a dam, but the envi-
ronmental impacts of such
a move make it an unlikely
option. He said more plausi-
ble solutions include extend-
ing the city’s levee system to
the area near the Highway
11 bridge and raising home
foundations to better with-
stand fl ood waters.
But before the city can
take any long-term steps to
better protect people and
property during the next
fl ood, it fi rst needs to update
its fl oodplain maps. Residents
and property owners learned
the maps were not accurate
after areas fl ooded that were
supposed to be outside the
fl oodplain.
Corbett said the city is in
the process of obtaining aerial
mapping of the town, but also
would need computer fl ood
simulations and approval
from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency before
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Merle Meacham, left, talks from the porch of his home with neighbor Crystal Shorts on
Feb. 7, 2020. Both residents stayed at Hall’s Trailer Park on Feb. 6, despite evacuation or-
ders. According to Meacham, the water levels never rose higher than his steps and he was
able to hunker down in relative comfort inside his home.
it could update the maps.
Pendleton wasn’t the
only community the 2020
fl oods hit hard. The Umatilla
Indian Reservation, Echo
and the area surrounding
Milton-Freewater all saw
significant damage. In the
latter’s case, Umatilla County
Commissioner Dan Dorran
said there still are people who
live along Mill Creek and the
south fork of the Walla Walla
River who haven’t been able
to return to their homes.
Dorran has been a part of
a multi-agency group trying
to coordinate the recovery
eff ort, but the pace of prog-
ress has been slow. Dorran
said the recovery’s deliberate
ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL &
OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY
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11AM TO 2PM
ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL
2801 ST ANTHONY WAY - PENDLETON
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timeline can be a tough sell to
constituents.
“It’s been frustrating how
long it’s taken,” he said.
Dorran referenced the
Thorn Hollow Bridge, a
bridge east of Pendleton that
was heavily damaged during
the fl oods and has remained
unusable since then. Dorran
said plans are ready and the
funding is in place to replace
the bridge, but construction
can’t start until the county
gets the green light from the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion and other government
agencies. Dorran added he
expects CTUIR to complete
its review of the project soon.
FREE
At its peak, the fl ooding
caused the Umatilla River
to fl ow at more than 20,000
cubic feet per second, the
most in the river’s recorded
history.
After the fl ood, the city
updated its “Flood Fight
Procedures” to give city staff
a clear plan whenever the
next fl ood comes. Included
in the plan is a detailed list of
procedures for when water
levels reach 9,500, 12,000
and 16,000 cfs. In the event
water levels exceed 22,000
cfs, the plan only has a single
sentence.
“Initiate recommenda-
tion evacuation procedures
behind the levee.”
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