The future of the city’s longest running theatre company will be up for debate Tuesday.
Sault Theatre Workshop has hit the stage for the past 77 years, but the group now faces challenges paying its operating costs.
Speaking with SooToday, two board members have rejected the idea that Sault Theatre Workshop’s home should be sold, or that the group is staring down its final curtain call.
“There are a bunch of us who have been working together trying to pitch ideas to the board on ways that we can fix the financial situation. I didn't want it to be seen as if we were giving up,” said board member C.J. Morton.
“Sault Theatre Workshop isn't just a part of Sault Ste. Marie's history. It's a part of Sault Ste. Marie's future.”
While a fundraiser last fall did indeed raise a mere $200 towards a $15,000 goal, board member Vici B said it was “extremely poorly advertised.”
The group’s recent performance of two one-act plays, similarly, was not met by sold-out shows – though they did perform well enough under the circumstances, said Vici B.
“We ran at about 60 per cent capacity as an average, which for Broadway would be awful, but for a local production where we only spent $20 in production costs, not including rights, it was really good. We did turn a profit,” she said.
An acapella fundraiser event hosted by the group on Friday also raised well over $2,000 for Sault Theatre Workshop’s coffers, and Morton said board members have plenty of ideas to move the group’s pocketbook back into the black.
Whether by filling the theatre’s schedule with performances and fundraisers, or by putting a concerted effort into advertising, there are plenty of actions the group can take fill its chairs and coffers moving forward, he said.
“The main thing that we are missing right now is exposure,” he said. “We're advertising primarily on posters right now.”
“We really need to get our social media accounts out and about more than they are. I think what we have to offer is a great space, a lot of talent, a lot of experience. There are so many pros, and really the main con is people don't know enough about us.”
Vici B also said the group plans to put on the first ever – to her knowledge – performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Sault Ste. Marie, should the idea be greenlit by the board.
Looking back on Sault Theatre Workshop’s history, she also said the group is an indispensable part of the community.
“We have everything. We have such a strong history,” she said.
“We've had books written about the Sault Theatre Workshop. We've had numerous awards. We are irreplaceable. You just can't list everything we've done. There’s so much.”
She and Morton were speaking out after two of its board members painted a bleak picture of the theatre's future in a recent article in the Sault Star.
In that interview, board members lamented a lackluster response to fundraising campaigns, dwindling crowds at its shows, and uncertainty about its longtime home on Pittsburgh Ave., which could – it has been suggested – be sold for the group’s benefit.
As they turn their eye to the future, Morton also the Sault Theatre Workshop’s building – which it owns – will play a key role in competing with other local theatre companies.
“There has been that push, if not to outright sell the building, to at least open discussions to put a for sale sign out front,” he said. “I am firmly against the idea of selling the building.”
“That is one of our main distinguishing features that sets us apart from the other theatre companies, and if we're worried about standing out in a crowded field, we don't want to step further back into that field.”
Sault Theatre Workshop’s upcoming board meeting is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday.