Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The Stratford Festival is hoping to build a new theatre complex near the banks of the Avon River to replace the aging Tom Patterson Theatre that sits there now.
“Our dream is to create a new theatre with all the treasured intimacy of the existing Tom Patterson Theatre but with improvements that will allow us to explore exciting new creative avenues,” said artistic director Antoni Cimolino.
That would include facilities for digital media and education activities, as well as space for the Festival’s Forum and new-play Laboratory.
“And, just as important, we would like to create a theatre in a park-like setting that will be a gift to the city,” he said, “enhancing our beautiful riverfront for future generations.”
A formal proposal has not yet been made to the city, which owns the Lakeside Drive property that includes the Tom Patterson Theatre and the adjacent Kiwanis Community Centre, and no specifics are available yet on exactly how or when the project would unfold, or how much it would cost.
Mayor Dan Mathieson said Friday that he welcomed the development.
“The city is excited that the Festival wants to make a very substantial and significant investment in the future of the theatre, and that’s good news for the city,” he said.
Still, he acknowledged that a development on the site could affect the various community groups and organizations that use the Kiwanis Community Centre.
They’ll be included in any discussions about the future of the site, he said.
“We plan on having a very thorough discussion with the community, looking at varying options as to what can be done there, what impacts there are, and how we can accommodate people,” he said.
The city is already considering some options.
“We really have to look at, can we continue to co-exist on that site, and if we can’t, are there other places that we can take some of the functions?” said Mathieson.
A number of local community groups and organizations would be affected by a development there, but likely none more so than the Stratford Lakeside Active Adults Association (SLAAA).
Its members, clubs and programs use the centre regularly for a long list of activities, including billiards, bridge, crokinole, fitness classes, lapidary, line dancing, painting, shuffleboard and woodcraft.
“Our association would like to stay where we are, if that’s possible,” said president Stephen Kropf Friday. “That’s our first choice.”
The SLAAA executive has formed a subcommittee specifically dealing with the potential redevelopment, to keep members informed as discussions continue and more information becomes available.
“Of course there’s a concern,” said Kropf. “We have 800 members of that association and they all use the building for something.”
The centrally located facility, which is on a bus route and just a short walk from the downtown core, is a home away from home for many members, he noted.
“That’s where they make their social connections,” he said, pointing out that some 2,000 people sign in and out of the building each week.
Stratford Festival executive director Anita Gaffney said the potential development is being approached in a “very considered fashion.”
“It is extremely important to us that we work with our friends and neighbours in Stratford to make the most of this opportunity for the community as a whole,” she said.
Gaffney suggested that a new facility is “crucially important” to the Festival’s future success.
“The Stratford Festival began leasing the current space on a temporary basis 45 years ago,” she said. “It has become a much-loved theatre, but it is woefully inadequate for the calibre of performance and experience our patrons have come to expect.”
She noted that productions there are constrained by the venue’s shortcomings, and the Festival has been advised that it may be too fragile to withstand renovation.
A new Tom Patterson Theatre would allow a longer season on that stage, and could help draw as many as 50,000 more visitors, said Gaffney. That would generate an additional $13.5 million in annual economic activity.
Cimolino added that while patrons love the Tom Patterson stage, they are increasingly calling attention to the condition of the facility, including its steep aisles and narrow rows, the poor quality of seating, and the lack of lobby space.
With places like the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater renovating or improving their facilities, Stratford needs a new theatre to maintain its competitive edge, he added.
The Festival would be responsible for financing the new facility.
By Mike Beitz for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Tom Patterson Theatre. ©2016 Scott Wishart.
2016-10-22
Stratford: Stratford Festival plans a new theatre complex to replace the Tom Patterson Theatre