By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
No, I have not disappeared.
My column mate and friend Dan White and his wife Joni Yazbeck have been pouring their souls into a theatrical production titled “Remember, Maggie?” which will be presented this week at the Chatham Kiwanis Theatre, and he needed this column space for several weeks in a row to help take you through the process of preparing for a theatrical production, as well as introduce the actresses.
A couple of years back, Dan had asked if I would look after the Sound Design for the show, which I reluctantly agreed to do.
My reluctance was simply because of my inexperience.
I’d never done that before.
My part is very miniscule, but it has opened my eyes to the process.
The production is brilliant, with all 3 shows being presented this weekend.
I’ve just returned from another rehearsal in Chatham and in my opinion, this show is ready, and it’s pretty powerful.
You will laugh for sure, but many will likely be moved to tears, because it’s too real, and the actresses are that good.
I’m not going to cover the production any more here, because Dan has done a great job doing that over the past four weeks and regular readers should be familiar with both the actresses and their characters by now.
Why do I say all of that?
Because it could be happening here… if we had a theatre.
I know, I sound like a broken record, but we need a performance space in this community for all kinds of productions including theatre, large-scale musicals, dance presentations, to house our Wallaceburg Concert Band, show movies, host touring bands and productions, and simply provide a meeting place for our citizens.
Back on December 11, our Wallaceburg Concert Band was spoiled when we had the opportunity to present our Christmas concert at the Capitol Theatre in Chatham, a facility that has no equal here in Wallaceburg.
And before I go any further, thank you to the hundreds who came out and supported us once again.
This is an amazing community!
But why did I say that we were “spoiled”?
First, as a true theatre the Capitol incorporates many design features that a plain old large room (ie. a gymnasium) does not have.
It has fixed, comfortable, seating installed on a sloping floor that helps provide better sightlines for patrons.
The stage is elevated, allowing everyone to see the performers.
The stage was more than adequate in size to hold our very large band.
Extremely important to us as performers were the fantastic acoustics that allow the details that we work so hard on to be heard and appreciated.
Great acoustics allow us to hear one another better also and of course, provides a superior sonic experience for the audience.
Helping us provide a great show was the incredibly helpful, and knowledgeable technical crew at the theatre.
I won’t go into details, but the staff made our experience wonderful, and saved us a lot of time and effort in some areas.
The backstage facilities, including dressing rooms that most don’t get to see are plentiful, and amazing.
Even our experiences of loading-in, and loading-out were fantastic.
We rented a single 26 ft truck to carry all of our expensive, heavy equipment and the load-in amenities at the theatre made life easy.
The house lighting and sound systems negated a lot of set-up work for us, and the systems were operated to perfection by the Capitol staff.
Our band can’t wait to be able to play the Capitol again!
But we’d rather play in our home community.
However, reality dictates that Wallaceburg will never be home to a theatre of that size, with those amenities, and a full-time paid staff, but perhaps might we dare hope for a scaled-down version of something similar?
We’re simply too small of a community to support a facility like the Capitol Theatre.
A legitimate question would be “if we had a theatre, would it get used?”
I believe so.
People like Dan could present theatre right here.
Perhaps the Wallaceburg Little Theatre would have a renaissance.
Does this community have the talent to present a full-blown, large-scale musical?
You bet we do.
There are no-doubt great singers and actors amongst us, and with our Concert Band and other great musicians in the area, we could put together a pit band to be proud of.
But there’s nowhere to do so.
Our WCB concerts would all be there.
The Wallaceburg Arts Council would utilize it.
By the way, the Arts Council is currently working on a concert that if it comes to fruition, will be “out of this world” good! (that was a hint)
Stay tuned because if it happens, I guarantee that the tickets will be sold-out in no time.
Larger meetings and lectures would be presented there.
The potential uses are endless.
The largest space in Wallaceburg, the WDSS Webber Auditorium is too heavily utilized for school events, (and rightfully so) so it isn’t readily available for most of the uses I speak of.
Theatrical presentations often require block booking of a facility for a few weeks in the run-up to a production, so school use is out of the question.
Just in case readers may want to suggest the Jeanne Gordon Theatre above the Museum for theatrical productions, yes it’s a beautiful, ultra small facility, with great acoustics, but fire regulations no longer permit any kind of theatrical productions, of ANY size.
Don’t even ask to present your one-person, one-act play.
Yes, Wallaceburg Little Theatre used the Jeanne Gordon Theatre for decades, but it’s no longer permitted.
BUT, you can present a music concert, using the very same lighting, stage, and sound system.
Sometimes, the world makes no sense.
Let’s hope for a theatre.
In my next few columns, I’m going to delve into some of the details of our Wallaceburg Concert Band operations.
