The Marshall Artists Series director of marketing said the Bannf Mountain Film Festival World Tour set for March 31 has been canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the organization is hopeful “Waitress” will still be able to take the stage April 27. 

“We’re hopeful, but we’re just like everybody else and we just don’t know,” Angela Jones said. “So until we hear otherwise, we are going to plan to have ‘Waitress’ at the end of April.”

Due to growing concerns of coronavirus throughout the world, Jones said that while she is disappointed some of the Marshall Artists Series events must be canceled, she understands that the general public’s health is more important. 

“We actually just got an email from the Association of Performing Arts, which is a big association for organizations like ours, and they said ‘We encourage you to not put people in danger,” she said. “So it is disappointing, but safety first.” 

Jones said Marshall is still selling tickets for “Waitress” with student tickets going on sale beginning April 6. 

“Waitress” is based on Adrienne Shelly’s film with the same name and follows a girl looking for a change from her regular job and loveless marriage, so she decides to enter a baking contest. 

“It’s this big Broadway show, and it tells the story of Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker,” Jones said. “She enters a baking contest; I believe she may fall in love, it’s just really cute. It all looks fun, so I think it’s going to be a really fun way to end this semester.”

The cancellation of the film festival comes after the Marshall Artists Series event with the band America was also canceled, set for March 12. 

Jones said the organization had received approval to have the event, but members of “America” chose to not risk spreading coronavirus. 

The Marshall Artists Series also still plans to have the Uncorked event at the end of the semester to help raise funds to allow different schools to attend events during the year. 

Sarah Ingram can be contacted at [email protected].