After Sault Theatre Workshop’s two-hour board meeting came to a close on Tuesday night, two truths emerged: its coffers are nearly empty, and the future of its longtime home on Pittsburgh Avenue is completely up in the air.
According to the treasurer’s report, the group currently has just over $2,500 to its name – up against $15,000 in annual operating expenses, a building that has multiple maintenance needs, and lacklustre showings at recent productions.
During its recent Spring Fling event, the performance of two one-act plays, Conflict and Cheating Death, turned a profit of just $233.
While the building’s furnace has “decided to behave” lately, it’s in a precarious state of repair; new heat sensors will be needed at some point down the road, and board members expressed concern about the building’s roof and – beyond its nuts and bolts – the building’s cosmetics, as well.
Concerns were also raised about the building’s accessibility – with several stairs leading up to its entrance, and a staircase into the basement to access its bathrooms – and with ongoing operating costs, such as its $700-plus monthly insurance bill, or the need to hire out snow clearing services in the winter.
The group also owes Harry Houston, a current board member that’s been involved with Sault Theatre Workshop for over 50 years, around $4,450 – for reasons that were not disclosed at the meeting.
All told, the theatre needs each of its productions to gross over $4,500 to keep the operation afloat, three times its monthly operating expenses.
“$1,471.66 per month – we run a show roughly every three months for the theatre, so if you multiply that by three – that's how much profit, at least, each production has to make to keep our heads above water,” said board chair, Bobbi Gasparelli.
The current situation led Gasparelli and the group’s treasurer, Scarlet Marenger, to paint a stark picture of Sault Theatre Workshop’s situation in a recent Sault Star article, and for two other board members – C.J. Morton and Vici B – to counter with a more optimistic view in a subsequent SooToday article.
On Tuesday night, however, the old guard and new came together, where ideas abounded and all expressed a strong hope to keep the workshop going.
“I look at Ottawa Little Theatre — they’re a community theatre group that is … the oldest theatre group in the country. They have their own building, and they do seven shows a year, and high quality,” said Houston.
“They'll last forever, and so will we if we focus on what we need to do, which is produce good theatre.”
One board member, Calvin Lane, suggested he could use his own tractor to clear snow in the winter pro bono; Vici B suggested everyone could pitch in their time and labour to help with whatever repairs the building needs.
Others, like Gasparelli, suggested selling the building – which has been the group’s home for more than 25 of its 77-year history – to free up operating costs.
Gasparelli clarified she doesn’t want to simply go ahead and put a ‘For Sale’ sign up in front of the building, but that it’s an option the board may have to face.
“The ideal situation would be if we can get an investor that would come in, and as a real estate investor, purchase the building and be willing to rent it back to us as users,” she said.
“Then we have the proceeds on the sale to put towards x-number of seasons of productions – of quality productions. I think that, at some point, may be our best case scenario.”
Not everyone agreed selling the building is the ideal route, with board member Fallon Smyl expressing concern about market rates for renting in the current market.
“My concern is that, in the market here in Sault Ste. Marie, this building is likely a tear down because of the maintenance issues that this building already has,” she said.
“And I don't think we're going to get an investor who is willing to rent back to us at a rate that is able to allow us to be doing the shows that we want to be doing.”
A longtime Sault Theatre Workshop member, who was in attendance, expressed concern about the group’s future in the current building, regardless of its state of repair.
“We have the capacity of 100 people. It's not enough. We have stairs. We've looked at elevators, and if you put in an elevator … then you're down to 75 or 80 people,” said Lee Ann Pearson. “It's not realistic to try to keep this building going.”
Regardless of what happens, Gasparelli said she anticipates the group can keep going as is “at least until Christmas,” and not all news was bad at the meeting.
A recent a cappella fundraiser raised close to $2,200, and the group has hopes for a successful grant application to the city, with additional grant applications planned this year.
Some productions in the last couple of years turned a fair profit — like its performance of Snow White, which brought in close to $4,200.
Calvin Lane pitched an ambitious production of Macbeth – the first ever in Sault Ste. Marie – to hit the stage at Sault Theatre Workshop in late August.
“Everybody that I've been talking to about the show is so excited that there's something as pretty and historical like this happening here,” he said.
With numerous ideas pitched at the meeting, no decision was made on the Sault Theatre Workshop building on Tuesday night.
Instead, the board moved to form a building committee to discuss the issue further — with board members and broader theatre members — before coming to any decision.
The committee will meet within the next month, Gasparelli said.
“We want to make sure that we do make it open to all of our general membership to understand what's going on and be informed of decisions,” she said.
“I really am hopeful that the youth coming in the last couple of months that have joined our board will help turn things around, but we also know that, financially, we really rely on a few different things falling into place.”