A symbolic wall-breaking for a new theatre took place in Stratford Tuesday morning.
Construction of the Here for Now Theatre’s micro black-box theatre at the former Perth County Registry, started with a special event.
The $1.3 million project will transform the main floor of the building into a 65-seat performance space, creating a permanent home for Here for Now Theatre.
Artistic Director Fiona Mongillo spoke to the large crowd gathered at the St. Andrews Street site this morning. She hopes it will allow for year-long theatre for the company and the Festival City.
“It’s a game changer for us and it was a necessary evolution just because the administrative labour and also the cost in consistently tearing down and setting up a full theatre each year wasn’t a sustainable model.”
A basement renovation will include rehearsal, storage and greenroom/dressing room space.
The project will essentially save a circa 1910 building that was declared surplus and slated for demolition.
Mongillo, along with local politicians including Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae, Perth County Warden Rhonda Ehgoetz and Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma, expressed gratitude at the wall-breaking for the support received from the community and government.
“I also think Stratford is at a perfect place right now, we’re at a tipping point as a community and as a city, where people are moving here and it’s becoming more and more vibrant and I think we need off-season programming.”
For more information on the theatre visit the Here For Now Theatre website.
– with files from reporter Melissa Dunphy
