Village Squire, 1978-11, Page 46UPDATE
CENTRE STAGE BITES THE DUST
FOR LAST[?] TIME
London's Centre Stage theatre seems to
have gone down for the third and final
time.
Artistic Director Ken Livingstone an-
nounced in late October that the theatre
had not been able to come up with enough
funding to mount a new season. He blamed
government cutbacks for the death of the
theatre. The season had depended on a
large grant from the Canada Council at a
time when government is tightening the
purse strings on all federal departments.
Centre Stage, housed in a 100 -seat
theatre provided at nominal charge by the
corporation running London's City Centre
Mall, had been founded and had survived
through government Local Initiatives
Project grants and similar employment
incentive grants for its three years. It
almost died last year when its Canada
Works (the successor to L.I.P.) grant was
denied but vocal protestations from London
and a decision to pump more money into
temporary employment programs led to a
new grant for the theatre which allowed it
to carry on.
The theatre had been awarded a grant of
$4500 from the Ontario Arts Council
conditional on it presenting at least three
plays. It had asked for $20,000 from the
Canada Council but received nothing.
During its life the theatre had been
known for presenting contemporary plays
dealing with such topics as sexuality,
violence and other social problems. Its fare
was hardly commercial in nature and even
in the little 100 seat space there were often
many empty seats. In a time when the
crunch is coming on government funds, a
healthy box office take is essential not only
to provide money to help meet costs, but
also to show government agencies that
people care about. what is going on stage.
Besides the lack of large audiences there
was little to suggest that the theatre really
was a vital part of the community. When
the grant situation was at its worst last year
the theatre tried to mount a private
fundraising campaign complete with
support by local theatre critic Doug Bale in
the London Free Press. In a city of a
quarter million people the campaign could
raise only $1200. Few, it seems will weep
at the funeral of Centre Stage.
MANAGER APPOINTED FOR FANFARE
BOOKS
Fanfare Books, Stratford, has announced
the appointment of Anne Trites-McArthur
as manager. Ms. Trites-McArthur has
been involved with her father's bookstores
in Barrie and Orillia since her student
44The Village Squire November 1978
•
Anne Trites-McArthur, new man
Fanfare Books.
years. More recently she worked i
Canadian Book Information Cent
Displays Co-ordinator, in which ca
she organized displays at confer
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