Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company’s closure hits other local companies

The ripple effects of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company’s closure are being felt by performing-arts groups and presenters across the city.

The former company’s costumes and props, in particular, have become a pressing issue among other groups who relied on the Playhouse’s generosity for their own shows.

“The day after [the announcement that the Playhouse was closing], everybody was running around, going, ‘Oh my god, how are we going to make sure that these resources don’t disappear?’ ” said Marcus Youssef, artistic director of Neworld Theatre. “It is absolutely crucial, because the Playhouse was real generous about it, and organizations, as you well know, are working on shoestrings, and that’s a massive resource of equipment and costumes and props and stuff that are really superhard to replace. So people are doing their best.”

The Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, which goes into production next month, has always rented the Playhouse’s costume shop. “Of course, that’s all gone now,” noted Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze. “So where shall we do our costumes? Where shall we build our costumes? Well, we’re working on that right now.…We go into business in less than a month’s time. We will sort it out. We will find a costume shop, but that old relationship that has been something we’ve been used to for so long is now gone.”

According to Bard managing director Robert Barr, the company is close to resolving the issue. “It’s looking pretty good that we’ve found some additional space,” said Barr. “We had some of our own [sewing] equipment, but we were also using theirs, so we’re sourcing that as well.…It’s an unfortunate situation, but you accept it and face it and do what you can to get ready.”

Playhouse board chair Jeff Schulz said the organization is keen to ensure its resources will remain accessible. “I don’t know at this point what will happen, but we know they’re important to the community, so we’ll do everything we can to ensure that they’re used as best they can be,” he insisted.

Another unexpected effect of the Playhouse’s closure has been a decline in ticket sales for presenters who use the civic-owned Playhouse Theatre. Those users report that they are fielding calls from patrons who have confused the theatre company with the venue itself.

Ticket sales for DanceHouse’s presentation of Gallim Dance, which ran last weekend at the Playhouse Theatre, stagnated after the announcement of the theatre company’s closure, said DanceHouse producer Jim Smith.

“We’ve received a number of phone calls from people under the impression that our activities would be cancelled, and people were asking ‘How do I get refunds?’” Smith said.

Ticket sales, he added, “have kind of halted. We go through a process of selling subscriptions in the course of the year…and then we have a single-ticket campaign which really gears up four weeks heading out in front of the event. And that basically coincided with much of the activity that was going on in terms of the Playhouse [Theatre Company] and its tragic story.”

It’s a similar story at the Vancouver Recital Society, where staff have been fielding phone calls from confused subscribers and would-be ticket buyers. “We had our last concert of this particular season at the Playhouse just last week, and we did have to fight that same perception,” reported marketing director Niamh Small. The organization has tried to clarify things with emails, mail-outs, and online messages, she said.

“We’ve had lots of phone calls and we’re trying to sell a new season now,” Small continued. “We’ve launched our 2012-13 season, and there are concerts at the Playhouse, there’s an entire series there, and we’re finding that we’re still fielding phone calls. We’ve put it on our website, we’ve put it in our e-newsletter, but I don’t think the message is really hitting people. And people really do assume that they’re one and the same—the venue and the company. It’s very baffling.”

Friends of Chamber Music board member Paris Simons said he has been working hard to get the word out that the volunteer organization’s concerts, which are held at the Playhouse Theatre, are going ahead as planned. “We are trying to use Facebook and email, we’re trying word of mouth, the website,” he said. “There is not a general understanding in the city that the venue is different from the theatre production company.”

Both Simons and Small called on the city to take action to clarify the confusion. “They could probably put out a press release or something—something that says there are other presenters using this venue, it’s a city-owned venue, and it continues to remain open.” Added Simons: “It would even help them [the city] as a rental house, because they’re going to have some dates to sell.”

A request for a comment from the city was not answered by press time.

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