PRINCE GEORGE – Work will wrap up soon on the repairs to the Playhouse.
“The exterior cladding is just about fixed,” explains Adam Davey, the Director of Community Services. “All this fencing will come down in the coming weeks. Inside we are replacing the fire curtain and some internal rigging. That’ll be done over the next few months as well.”
The City will go out to a request for proposals to occupy the building, essentially to be a tenant. The goal is to have a new tenant in place by early December.
Back in June, when the discussion was taking place at Council about whether to repair the aging facility, it was noted the cost would be $500,000 just to make the facility operable again. Future repairs would cost $7.2 million. But there is reluctance on the part of some to throw any more money at a facility that doesn’t meet the needs of the community.
“I don’t think people realize how old the building is,” says Councillor Cori Ramsay. “I think it’s creeping up on 50 years. It did go through massive renovations throughout its life to make sure it functions. But for a city our size, having a performing venue with just 300 seats is not enough.”
Ramsay has acted in productions within that facility and knows where the warts are.
“It’s really great, idealistically, to say ‘Hey, we have this great venue.’ But if you’ve been in it and you’ve performed in it and you’ve gone to shows in it, you kind of know that underneath the pretty facade, there’s a lot of structural issues.”
