Village Squire, 1977-12, Page 40THEATRE
Theatres'
constant struggle
played out again
at Centre Stage
There are tev% businesses riskier than
professional theatre. Even at best, most
theatres in Canada lose money and depend
on government subsidies and public
contributions.
And at worst? Well, at worst things go as
badly wrong as they have for Centre Stage,
the small London theatre company which
had provided a second professional stage
for the city for the past two years.
The 1977-78 season should have looked
rosey for the little theatre. City Centre
Mall. which houses the theatre, had just
built a new, more permanent theatre to
replace the original temporary setup which
had served the company for the first two
years. The company had just received its
first Canada Council grant, which contrary
to common opinion, do not grow on trees.
Canada Council is stingy about deciding to
put a theatre on its grand list, making sure
the work of the theatre is up to standard
before giving any committment.
Artistic director Ken Livingstone, a
veteran of alternate theatre in London, had
made his plans for the upcoming season
when the roof fell in.
The company had applied for a $65,000
grant from the Canada Works program, a
program not specifically for the support of
theatre, but to create jobs. A similar grant
last winter helped pay the bulk of the
payroll costs for the theatre. But this year,
with the first production already in
rehearsal, the word came down from on
high that the grant was not going to be
approved. As if that wasn't bad enough,
the Ontario Arts Council offered only $2000
of the $5000 the theatre had hoped for. It
did give a promise of another $1000 if the
theatre could raise an equal amount from
private donations: evidence of community
support, it said.
To Livingstone, the comment was
upsetting. "City Centre just built us a
whole new theatre," he said. "What more
evidence of community support could they
want."
The theatre had opened the season with
a run of Jo -Ann Mclntyre's one woman
show. Brush-off, telling the two sides of a
pick-up at a singles bar. It was a guest
show, first performed by Miss McIntyre in
Toronto earlier in the fall.
It was scheduled to open its production
of Sam Shepard's "rock tragedy" The
Tooth of the Crime, on Nov. 30 but the
production was cancelled in mid rehearsal
when the financial roof fell in. The O.A.C.
grant size meant that the theatre was $3000
short of having enough money even to
mount this first show, let alone the other
four shows planned for the season. Even if
the production had gotten off the ground, it
v:ould have been because Livingstone and
COLLECT ION
Discover an exciting collection of,
Christmas gift idem. specifically chosen
Jrrr you and your life style. ,Vew and
classic. ideas Jin. your home, Joor entertaining
cooking, and gift - giving Jro►n continental "
Europe's skilled craftsmen and talented designers.
One Hundred and Twenty tight Albert .Street in (loll ,P1
THE QAIYTQEE
11 III'n 1 Illi! !11~11' !;111'~ 111'1 111111 1 mil 1'llti11ti
38. VILLAGE SQUIRE/DECEMBER 1977.