by PAUL RAYNER

The hope is that the one season Boissevain has without a theatre will be the only one.

The Boissevain Community Theatre Committee announced earlier this summer that there would be no more movies or other events in the existing structure on Stephen Street due to the discovery of serious problems with the building. At the time, there were hopes a long-term solution could be found. Now, hopes are joined by preliminary plans.

“The theatre committee has done some investigation and budget estimates on the demolition and replacement of our structure,” explained committee member and projectionist Brad Peters, “and the numbers we found were feasible for the community.”

The estimate they found was under $250,000 to bring down the existing building and constructing a new one on the same spot. Peters said they know the numbers are not completely solid – there are unknowns due to issues like codes – but the dollars are good enough to start moving ahead.

“The committee is ready to go ahead with fund-raising. The numbers are good enough to start doing that.”

No plans are set in stone at this point, but the idea would be to tear down the existing theatre from the stage to the lobby, keeping the ten-year-old structure in the back, which includes washrooms and dressing rooms. A new building would be put up on the existing concrete foundation. Peters said what they are looking at now would be a standard stud wall with rafters, but not likely a curved roof.

“That’s the plan right now,” he stated. “We would have to take everything out, the seats, projector, equipment.”

They feel they can cut costs to some degree by using volunteer labour where possible.

The fund-raising has not been organized as of yet. They will definitely be looking at a variety of grants, as well as seeing what the Town of Boissevain can possibly offer in its next budget. There are other ideas like raffles or a potential drama production.

“As always, things are up in the air. We have to start somewhere, probably in September. We’ll start talking, see who is interested in helping out. If anyone has any good ideas, we’ll listen to them.”

At any rate, the existing theatre will not be showing movies for the 2009-2010 season. Peters said they have looked at different venues and different ways of holding movies, but are not at this point planning to show them regularly this year. Without their regular equipment, it would mean using DVD’s, which would mean getting releases later. As well, it is difficult to find any venue that can accommodate films and is available regularly.

However, they are looking into occasional shows, most likely kids’ matinees, perhaps with the help of sponsors like the Chamber of Commerce who have done so in the past for events like Santa Day. The possibility was brought up at the August 18 Chamber meeting, where members felt they wanted more information before committing.

“We’ll definitely look into doing shows from time to time,” Peters said, “but even DVD’s have licensing fees. There are no concrete plans at this point.”

As for the new theatre, the best case scenario for construction would be 2010, with the idea of being ready for that fall’s beginning of the movie season.

“We think that’s do-able, but it depends on the fund-raising, grants, what the Town can contribute. That is what we are hoping, but we can’t say yes or no at this point. There are a lot of needs in the community and we have to take our place in line.”

Although the announcement of the theatre closure has been fairly recent, the response from the community has been quick. Peters said he has definitely been hearing about how people feel.

“Basically anyone who talks to me expresses concern and they want reassurance something is being done. I have not heard anything ambivalent. I didn’t do a survey, but people definitely wanted a theatre. There are different people too. There are the people who go to the Thursday night movies, parents with kids – I don’t think finding support from the community will be a difficult thing.”

Looking at the numbers and anecdotal evidence, Peters said the numbers going to movies in the theatre were up last year. As they did not increase prices, the higher amount of money collected definitely points in that direction. That demonstrates as well as anything else the need the theatre serves in the community.

Peters himself said he was surprised the plans moved as quickly as they did. Although nothing is concrete, he is certainly happy to see something develop.

“I’m definitely happy about it and I think everybody on the committee is too,” he said. “You put a lot of work into keeping a service to the community going, so when it just goes away you are a little disappointed. It’s not a good feeling.”

“We’ll keep it simple and use as much volunteer labour as we can. We’ll work things out as we go along. But now we have a target to work towards, and we’ll do what we can to reach it.”