by PAUL RAYNER

Whether or not new movies will be shown in Boissevain in the future, it will not happen in 2009/10 and will not happen in the Boissevain Community Theatre.

On June 18, the local theatre committee made the decision that there will be no new films shown next year. The problem is simply the theatre building, opened in 1955. According to projectionist and theatre committee member Brad Peters, they were looking to replace the shingles on the roof this year. However, the wall was opened and serious problems with the arches were noticed. Due to the age of the building, waterproof adhesive was not used on them during construction, which combined with roof leakage, created serious problems with the adhesive not holding.

“It has been a problem for a long time with sagging and bowing,” Peters explained, “but no one really looked at it before.”

He said the building would not necessarily fall down, but no one can be absolutely certain it will not. So for reasons of safety and liability, it can no longer be used. Theoretically, Peters added, the roof could be taken off and new arches could be put up beside the old in order to fix it. But at that point, you are essentially putting up a new building.  Without the theater structure itself, there is no chance of films being shown next year, which traditionally run from fall to spring.

“We have no choice. We talked about alternate venues, but there really isn’t anything we can use. There really was no choice, if we can’t use our building. There is no possible way to have anything in time for fall.”

There are, at this point, no definite decisions made regarding replacement. If enough feedback is received from people in Boissevain and Morton regarding the need for a theatre, it might play a role in the decision.

“We will be looking at options to see if it is feasible to replace it,” Peters stated, “but there are a lot of projects going on in town, and you get kind of tapped out. If people want a movie theatre in Boissevain, it might be a factor. If they don’t miss it, then it goes away. It mostly has to do with costs, and we don’t know what those will be at this point.”

Peters added that closing the theatre was more than disappointing for those involved.

“That’s an understatement. I don’t think anyone on the theatre committee wanted to make that decision.”