Society refuses 'offer'

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EXCERPT:

The school district wants the Massey Theatre Society to abandon the Massey and run a new 500-seat theatre at the proposed replacement high school.

Massey Theatre executive director Jessica Schneider said the board of education made the offer to the society at a joint meeting between the society and the school district.

The answer was a resounding no.

"The Massey Theatre Society will not participate in any proposal that sees the demolition of the Massey Theatre," said society chairperson Mike Redmond.

The proposal wasn't a "real" proposal anyway because there's no guarantee the theatre will be built, Redmond told The Record Thursday.

Schneider cited a number of other reasons that the society wouldn't want to leave the Massey, saying the city's major artistic organizations, such as the Royal City Musical Theatre Society, would not survive in a smaller theatre. The society wouldn't make enough money to cover its costs and would require more funding from the school district.

Also, any new space would not have the same quality and capabilities as the historic 1,260-seat theatre, Schneider said.

Schneider was "frustrated" by the meeting, which she thought would provide the society and the board a chance to talk.

The society had been calling for a meeting for some time, she said.

Instead, the district's capital project manager, Jim Alkins, spent much of the time talking about the district's proposal to have them operate the new theatre.

There was no discussion on the Massey's lease with the district, which ends in June. The society does the bulk of its booking well in advance of shows. If a new lease agreement isn't reached soon, the society may not be able to book any more performances, which could effectively mean an end to theatre operations at Massey.

Mayor Wayne Wright opposes spending millions of city tax dollars to upgrade Massey Theatre

COMMENT: Now the gloves are off! Now the protests should start.

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In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight, Wright said the 1,260-seat venue's future is in the hands of its owner, the New Westminster school district.

"They have to come up with some solutions," Wright said.

The mayor also mentioned that the operators of the Massey Theatre have suggested that the $18-million cost of upgrading the building is an exaggeration. Wright added that he doesn't expect that the city would spend even $9 million to save the building…

A new civic centre in downtown New Westminster will include a theatre with 400 to 500 seats, Wright said. (A 2008 city-commissioned report mentioned that the civic centre would have a theatre with 300 to 400 seats. That report also emphasized the importance of retaining the Massey Theatre.)

Wright noted that the new high school, which could be built on the Massey Theatre site, will include a 600-seat theatre. "So we're actually going to have two brand-new theatres in the city," he said.

Future of Massey Theatre in limbo - Globe and Mail article

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“Building on the cemetery is not an option for us,” [school board chair James Janzen] said. He does say, however, that it is possible to keep the theatre and rebuild the school. “We could swap the theatre site for other land on the site and build in other places.”

The Massey Theatre is a 1,260-seat venue that hosts more than 200 events a year. The Massey Theatre Society, which operates it, generates 82 per cent of its revenues.

Ms. Schneider [executive director of the theatre] says that makes the theatre attractive for the city to take on…

Ms. Schneider has her fingers crossed. “We recognize it's complicated. Just because it's complicated doesn't mean the theatre should go.”