GLACE BAY, N.S. -- It has been more than a year since most Maritime theatres and entertainment venues have opened their doors to the public.

With the new reality of COVID-19 protocols, including physical distancing, some wonder if those venues will ever be able to return to full capacity.

For the first time in more than a year, the Savoy Theatre is hoping to welcome a small number of people back through the doors.

On April 1, the theatre will announce the return of Island Girls, a tribute to Cape Breton music and comedy that will be streamed online, but also hopes to have an in-person audience.

“It’s a new Island Girls show with Bette MacDonald, Jenn Sheppard, Lucy MacNeil and Heather Rankin. It’s going to be a great show,” says Pam Leader, executive director of Glace Bay’s Savoy Theatre.

Leader says another year without patrons in the building is not an option.

“The help we received both provincially and federally to be able to keep the doors open and keep staff on. If we had to go through a second year like this, I can’t see it,” says Leader.

But with physical distancing measures in place, some performers are wondering if we will ever see sold out shows again.

“I’m sure there will be some people that will be hesitant to come right back to a room that’s jam packed with people,” says Jenn Sheppard, one of the performers in Island Girls.

Sheppard, like many other performers in the Maritimes, has spent the last year figuring out how to deliver entertainment to a virtual audience. While she has adapted to the new normal, she says there’s nothing like performing in front of an audience.

“As performers we’re so dependant on the reaction from a live audience, to know whether or not we’re moving in the right direction, whether the material is working. So you can’t beat a live audience,” says Sheppard.

Leader says she hopes restrictions will be relaxed as vaccines rollout, but she’s still worried what ‘normal’ will look like in the future.

“I don’t see us being at full capacity until at least the end of the year, but I’d love to be wrong about that,” says Leader.

The Savoy Theatre has been through two World Wars, the Great Depression, a fire and a flood. Now they’re hoping they’ll be able to get through this pandemic as well.

A year like no other, and one that venues and performers alike hope will return to normal, sooner than later.