Previous Issues
And now a playouse?
?It’s encouraging that, despite some negative thoughts from some surprising places, the Township and the Arts Association are going to go ahead with a one-year pilot project to turn Siloam Hall into a visual arts centre, including the beginnings of a public gallery. As was pointed out at the Association’s AGM, the space is bigger than Port Perry’s Kent Farndale Gallery, attached to the library. With a little imaginative design and creative promotion, Siloam could become a bit of an artistic mecca. And the site has plenty of room for expansion.
It would indeed be a classic case of turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse. But is it the ultimate solution? Maybe not.
And similarly, in the middle of town, maybe it’s time for another venue for another art form to stop being a silk purse as well. The Music Hall was certainly never intended as a venue for plays. It was built as a meeting hall, and occasionally as a concert hall, much like the theatres in Port Perry, Beaverton or Sunderland. But over the years, and certainly over the last couple of decades as Uxbridge’s theatre groups have increased in numbers and sophistication, it has been transformed into a viable theatre space, due in large part to support from the Township and the province’s Trillium Foundation.
There was perhaps a time when the theatre groups dreamed of having the Music Hall to themselves, rather than being just occasional tenants in a multi-purpose space which hosted wedding receptions, dances and ballet classes in addition to performances and rehearsals. The Town Hall 1873 in Port Perry installed permanent seats; why couldn’t we? But it has become obvious that the Township, and the Hall’s advisory board, are not prepared to give up the revenue that these other uses represent. And perhaps that’s a blessing in disguise.
A few years back, when the high school was being renovated, there arose an exciting plan to attach a new performing arts space to the east of the new cafeteria, to be shared by the community and the school. That plan has lain dormant for some time, but perhaps it’s time to revive it, and move it to the Kennedy House lands.
There’s a better than even chance that the huge dormitory building at Kennedy House is beyond rescue. If it is torn down, a large area of land becomes immediately available. A purpose-built theatre, with a purpose-built gallery attached (as was the preliminary plan for the school site), could easily fit into one part of that site, with abundant room for parking. Finally, the actors and the dancers and the artists would have a building of their own, while the Music Hall could revert to the community and concert hall it was always intended to be, without those annoying thespians gumming up the space and the schedule.
But let’s not make the mistake that Newmarket made with a similar opportunity; their theatre (attached to a high school...) is about as boring a proscenium space as you could imagine. Why not use Stratford’s Festival Theatre (see opposite) as a model instead, and design a space that would create an exciting experience for performer and audience alike?
According to the Bank of Canada, the recession is over. So let’s start thinking big again. Uxbridge’s tourist industry needs a place like this, and our theatre community deserves it. Kennedy House was purchased to foster just such an opportunity. All we need is imagination and energy to make it happen.
