Theatre Night In Trenton

by Brandon Moore
Communications Coordinator
(This article first appeared in Theatre Ontario's Summer 2009 newsletter)

When the City of Quinte West sent out a survey to their businesses, looking for input on how to revitalize their downtown, the businesses’ response was loud and clear—more than hockey tournaments or street dances, or any of the other options that were suggested; they wanted live theatre.

On March 26, they got what they wanted with the first performance of The Bay of Quinte Community Players.

Quinte West is the gateway to the Trent Severn Waterway in eastern Ontario. Made up of the amalgamated cities of Trenton, Sidney, Murray and Frankford, it’s a city of 42,000 people that extends between urban and rural communities, and is home to Canada’s largest military base. But—like many Ontario communities—it also has a declining downtown core.

In response to the decline, the city’s Economic Development Committee gathered together ten local theatre artists to discuss the prospects of forming a theatre. One of the artists was playwright Carl Cashin, now the acting President of the Players.

“We didn’t know each other well,” explained Carl. “We talked about our experience in theatre, what we wanted, what we didn’t want, things that disappointed us.” But their initial cynicism and reticence gave way to a discovery of common goals. They wrote a draft constitution, and went back to the Economic Development Committee with the decision that they were ready to form a community theatre company. But they were also clear about their needs from the City.

“We needed seed money and we needed a theatre,” said Carl. He cites past community theatres, such as Trenton Community Players—now shutdown—who never had a regular venue. “How can people come to your shows when they don’t know where you are?”

The City arranged a performance space above a museum belonging to the Trent Port Historical Society. Not fully equipped as a theatre—without any lighting, fixed seating, or “a way to get on and off the stage that didn’t involve going through the curtain”—it did provide a gathering place for the Players to create. The relationship with the Historical Society is already proving mutually beneficial—the previously under-attended museum now has a regular audience that visits before each performance or at intermission. The proceeds of the Players’ productions are split three ways with a third going to the Historical Society, a third going to the Players, and a third going towards improvements to the performance space, and establishing a joint bursary fund.

The Players’ by-laws established several requirements to help give the theatre company a unique identity. The Players wouldn’t charge membership fees to anyone in the community who wanted to belong to the group. (“You shouldn’t have to pay twenty dollars to come paint a set.”) Every production would have at least one cast member who had never been on stage before. They would only enter locally-written plays into the Eastern Ontario Drama League one-act and full-length festivals. And at every performance, five seats would be made available for free to persons under 18. Perhaps most importantly, they wanted to establish an attitude. “Performing a play is the means to an end, not the end itself,” Carl explained. “We wanted to encourage arts in our community. For us, that’s what it’s all about.”

The first production was Robin Hawdon’s comedy Perfect Wedding. “We had to get going quickly,” Carl observed. After the first meeting in December of 2008, the group quickly chose the play; pre-cast (“totally going against our mandate,” Carl admitted) and rehearsed the production; borrowed flats and lights from a local high school; and were ready to open four months later.

The response was overwhelming. After a sold-out opening night (befitting the significance of the event), the next two performances didn’t reach capacity, but word-of-mouth quickly spread. For the final week of the run, they were sitting people on antique benches, and bringing up chairs from the basement, placing them anywhere they could and selling them cheaply as “poor sightlines.” On closing night they had to turn away as many people as had attended on opening.

One of their best advocates was Mayor John R. Williams. After attending the opening night performance, he later went on the local radio, but instead of the municipal initiative he was supposed to be promoting, he spoke for five minutes about “the new theatre” in Quinte West. The local radio has proven to be tremendously supportive of the fledgling theatre company with ticket giveaways and “theatre trivia” contests.

In addition to the space, the City also provided $1,000 of start-up money to the Players—although for that first production, “we put everything on our own credit cards,” Carl admitted. The City’s “start-up money” arrived one week after Perfect Wedding closed.

The Players are now in rehearsal for their June production, and looking towards several long-term plans: launching a subscription season; obtaining funding to improve their performance space; starting a youth summer camp; and reviving a local summer playwriting festival.

And as for the businesses seeking re-vitalization? Carl described the scene one night at The Celtic Pub, the tavern across the street from the theatre. Regulars arrived to find the pub packed with patrons, and unable to get a seat. The publican’s answer? “It’s theatre night in Trenton.”