NH staff propose curtailing Wingham Town Hall Theatre use
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
Dave Tiffin, Chair of the Wingham Business Improvement Area (BIA), addressed North Huron Council during the public comment portion of the April 2 meeting in regards to a proposal put forward by North Huron staff that would impose limitations on weekday performances at Wingham’s Town Hall Theatre. Staff currently occupies a portion of the facility that is also used as a “green room” space for performers, and they feel the recent increase in weekday shows has begun to interrupt their daily workflow.
Tiffin outlined why he, and the rest of the BIA, believe that restricting shows would be detrimental to the township. “The theatre has become very successful in drawing in well-known artists, which, in turn, brings in residents from all over Southwestern Ontario... the more well-known entertainers often like to perform at smaller venues throughout the week, and larger centres on the weekend, which makes perfect sense. Not having an option for weekday evening performances would be a severe problem.”
The theatre has certainly seen an increase in big ticket acts since the days of pandemic restrictions. Shaun Majumder, Jim Cuddy, George Fox and The Sheepdogs are just a few of the well-known performers who have graced the stage over the past year. Celtic rock band The Mudmen also came out last year to help Lisa Harper of the United Way put on a successful fundraiser show to raise money for the Northern Huron Connection Centre.
The proposed restrictions coincide with a potential managerial shake-up of the venerable performance space. “The Wingham BIA has been approached to do operations oversight of the theatre,” explained Tiffin. “The BIA is totally on board with this idea, however, we have not yet been asked for any input on theatre operations. I would ask that council defer any decision on any of these four options presented in the Town Hall Theatre operations report until the BIA has had a chance to offer input and suggestions.”
Gregg Furtney, North Huron’s Director of Public Works, pointed out that the report was intended to lock in a limited schedule before any possible transition to a BIA-managed space. “There will be an upcoming Town Hall Theatre report that will address the proposal from the Wingham BIA, but before that report comes forward, staff believe it’s important to set out the operational parameters of the event space before discussing other possible changes to the current process.”
The current report also offered some insight as to how staff and entertainers came to their current state of co-mingling. In 2018, following a volunteer-driven restoration of the space, a letter from a former member of the Wingham Town Hall Theatre Committee spurred staff to submit a report to council that recommended the former council chambers, back hallway and kitchenette be designated a “green room” space for performers, on weekends only, for a trial period of 12 months. No follow-up report was filed, until now.
Furtney’s document tallies the number of planned 2024 performances at 21 shows, eight of which would occur on weeknights. Five of those eight nights fall on a Friday. It begins by acknowledging that the theatre is invaluable to the township, before going on to state that ‘‘when there are staff and performers in the building at the same time, staff productivity is reduced, especially during load-in and sound check times, and access to the kitchenette becomes limited…. Weekday performances that need to set up and do sound checks during municipal office hours have been challenging. There is additional noise, reduced space for staff to congregate on breaks, and additional people in the building. Sometimes all the entrances to the building are being used to get the equipment up to the theatre - there are health and safety concerns, as well as confidentiality and security concerns. Staff are looking to council to set the parameters for operation.”
Furtney presented four options to council that could better accommodate the needs of North Huron’s five staff members. “If council is interested in the theatre business and want to help grow it, staff could be directed to investigate and report back as to possible alternative green room options.” His other suggested plans of action included restricting weekday access to the theatre until after 4:30 p.m., allowing performances on weekends only, or limiting the number of weekday shows to six per year and closing the office on those days. The report acknowledged that a mandated decrease in performances would likely mean less access to the stage for local performance groups like the Almost Famous Players.
Councillor Chris Palmer criticized the possible changes. “Option 2 I don’t like, because it may restrict some big acts, and there seem to be more and more of them. Option 3 may hurt the Almost Famous Players. Number 4, restricting it to six rentals a year, well that’s restricting the use of the hall and its profitability.” Palmer went on to suggest that on performance days, staff could use North Huron’s brand new council chambers. “We have a great room back here, and it was built to be used by staff whenever it’s needed, so during these times, anybody who is unduly affected by noise should maybe just come here? That’s an option.”
Councillor Ric McBurney countered Palmer’s comment in support of staff. “I feel like we’re pushing the people trying to run the township out of their workplaces,” he said.
Councillor Mitch Wright spoke up in regards to the BIA’s potential takeover of theatre management. “I think we should actually defer this to a later meeting. There are one or two members of the BIA that have lots of experience with this. They’ve talked to the performers, they’ve helped run wires and make small modifications to the theatre to facilitate performances, and I think they could come up with some ideas that are a bit more nuanced and detailed than this report…. I don’t think waiting another couple weeks to make a decision to allow time for consultation with the BIA will make much of a difference. I don’t think any of these options hit the nail on the head.”
According to North Huron’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan, the theatre should be front and foremost as a local asset. It states that “as a part of post-pandemic planning, opportunities exist to focus efforts on marketing the township's arts and cultural spaces to raise awareness of what's available in the community and to encourage use. In an effort to increase use of the Wingham Town Hall Theatre, consideration should be given to promoting the space for school use, hosting programs or events such as movie nights and theatre classes (either by the township or a third party), and attracting performers that appeal to different interests and age groups.”
A motion passed to defer any decision until after staff meets with the BIA.