TheatreOne faces do or die fundraising challenge

Cade said these decisions have been very difficult and very upsetting for him and the rest of the TheatreOne team. (Jesse Woodward / CHLY 101.7FM)

What should have been a celebration, kicking off its 41st season, TheatreOne is now having to cancel shows as it figures out if it can even keep the theatre company going.

TheatreOne is a professional theatre company in Nanaimo that has been bringing professional actors and performances to the local stage since 1984. But after a loss in grant funding that TheatreOne has historically relied on, the company must raise $20,000 to stay open another season or quietly exit stage left forever.

Michael Cade is Artistic and Managing Director at TheatreOne and told CHLY after some financial setbacks this summer, the company has become non-viable.

“It's certainly been a shock, and we were surprised by how fast it fell apart,” Cade said. “To be honest, we were really going day-by-day, paycheck-by-paycheck kind of thing to be able to keep the company alive, and this last blow was just one that we could not find a path forward with.”

He said the two grants they rely on were unable to provide the same support this year, and that, mixed with the loss of audience members following the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become too much for the small theatre company.

“Live performance venues were the first to close and the last to reopen,” he said. “When we were able to reopen in 2022, the assumption was made that the audience would come back in droves after being starved by not having live performances for a couple of years. Unfortunately, that just wasn't the case.”

He said even though they put in so much effort to try and bring back their audience to what it was pre-pandemic, it seemed like people are still less comfortable coming back.

“Our main stage audience in the last two years has grown by 800 per cent, and our children's theatre program has grown by 2,000 per cent,” he said. “We're getting there, but even these new, higher numbers are still only a quarter to a third of what our traditional audience is, so we're still hoping that they will come back.”

He said people’s habits towards streaming movies or shows at home have also been a big factor in the loss of audience members.

This lack of funding has forced TheatreOne to make the difficult decision to cancel its upcoming performances of Pump Boys and Dinettes on October 10 and 11 and Hotel Vortruba on October 12. (Jesse Woodward / CHLY 101.7FM)

“While we've worked incredibly hard to rebuild audiences and diversify revenues by exploring aggressive fundraising, donations, sponsorships and grants, they haven't been enough for us to be able to keep the lights on and the doors open,” he said.

This lack of funding has forced TheatreOne to make the difficult decision to cancel its upcoming performances of Pump Boys and Dinettes on October 10 and 11 and Hotel Vortruba on October 12.

He said these decisions have been very difficult and very upsetting for him and the rest of the TheatreOne team.

“Reaching out to all of the artists for the year, as well as the sponsors, the venues, our donors, everyone, letting them know was the hardest set of emails that I've ever had to send,” he said. “Then followed by dozens of phone calls, trying to make sure that everyone who would be impacted by this would receive the information that they needed to in order for them to be able to continue to move forward. It was an incredibly difficult process.” 

Now, Cade said TheatreOne is hosting a meeting on Tuesday, October 14, in the big meeting space at the Nanaimo Harbourfront Library downtown for community members to ask questions and consider possible paths forward.

Ahead of the meeting, TheatreOne is seeking financial support from the community. 

“We have a small amount pledged so far, but we really need to get at least $20,000 for us to be able to move forward and complete this season,” he said. “Basically, that $20,000 is the amount that we lost between these two grants. It's unlikely that that level of support will show up, but we are incredibly hopeful. But this is a tough time.”

Cade said that if they can not get enough money pledged by the meeting, a vote will be held to see if they should dissolve the society.

Cade said if this is the end of TheatreOne, he hopes a phoenix can rise from the ashes, that can bring a new vision of professional theatre to the community.

“If we close, and I expect that we will, what I would ask is that people come out and support the other groups that are in town. They're all struggling as well,” Cade said. “Go out and support the Nanaimo Theatre Group, Western Edge Theatre, Artists Collective Theatre, and Reconciliation Theatre. There's amazing work being done in our community, and it deserves much bigger audiences than what it's getting.”

Those wishing to make commitments of financial support or send stories about how TheaterOne has impacted their life may do so by emailing TheatreOne Performance Society Board President, Graham Pike, at graham.pike@viu.ca or Artistic and Managing Director, Michael Cade, at michael@theatreone.ca.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.