Sarah Altomari, foreground, portrays Sheila Birling in “An Inspector Calls” alongside Casey Bowser, left, and Stefan Lingenfelter, right. The Butler Little Theatre put on three performances of “An Inspector Calls” in March before the coronavirus pandemic forced future shows to be canceled.

Two local theater groups with decades-long histories in Butler County have had their plans upended in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since March, both the Musical Theatre Guild of Butler and Butler Little Theatre have been forced to cancel and postpone shows because of the coronavirus.

The Butler Little Theatre was just three performances into its run of “An Inspector Calls” when state mandates came down in March, forcing the rest of its performances to be canceled.

The cancellations were an anomaly for the decades-old group.

“We’ll be entering our 80th season, and we’ve never had to cancel, even during World War II,” chairman of the board Sue Collar said. “And we’re proud of that.”

With the pandemic guidelines that are in place from Gov. Tom Wolf, Collar said the Little Theatre wouldn’t legally be able to open right now, but she’s hoping the state’s situation will improve by November.

The Musical Theatre Guild finds itself in a similar situation of cancellations and postponements, clouded with an air of uncertainty about its future.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Thursday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.