Theatre is making its comeback: Engaging plays and good deals are putting bums in seats

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An exciting sense of optimism is permeating all three of Calgary’s major theatre companies.

Last season, Theatre Calgary’s productions of The Mousetrap, A Christmas Carol and Beaches The Musical set attendance records, while over at Alberta Theatre Projects, the company’s production of W.O. Mitchell’s The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon became the best-selling show in ATP’s 50-year history. And halfway through its spring run, Vertigo Theatre’s production of The Girl on the Train played to sold-out houses.

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Prospects for next season at all three theatres are looking even brighter.

Subscription sales at Vertigo are nearing record levels, and could top the 5,000 mark reached back in 2014.

“We’ve had 84 per cent of our subscribers renew their season tickets, and we still have a month to go on our renewal campaign, but what’s even more exciting is we have 711 new subscribers,” says Grinhaus, Vertigo’s artistic director. “We’re beginning to see pre-pandemic levels, so our climbing numbers say we’re doing something right.”

Asked what he thinks that is, Grinhaus says it’s plays that keep the audience on their toes.

“Since the pandemic, people are looking for theatre that grabs them, jars them, and forces their engagement. This is what true crime, suspense, mystery and thrillers do. These kinds of plays are becoming vogue everywhere these days. This doesn’t necessitate a huge programming change for us, but it means we have to deliver once we have those people in our theatre. We have to give them the highest quality productions possible.”

This season, Grinhaus has programmed a premiere of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel who crafted his stage version of The Girl on the Train.

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“Name recognition is definitely important. It’s a drawing card for the first week, but you have to deliver the goods because word of mouth sells the tickets for those other three weeks. It has to be our mission to give audiences, not only what they want, but what they need, and what they deserve. I’ll keep looking for really good stage adaptations of novels and films.

Theatre Calgary is also nearing 5,000 subscriptions and artistic director Stafford Arima credits the Theatre for All initiative which sees main floor tickets at the Max Bell Theatre sell for $44. Last season, they were $39.

“Sixty per cent of people who purchased the budget tickets were new to Theatre Calgary. They may have seen plays at Stage West, Vertigo or ATP, but they were new to us, so the Theatre For All initiative has been a slam dunk, home run.”

Arima committed to three seasons of this budget ticket initiative and admits “We’re looking at every way possible to extend it. We want it to be sustainable, because, right now, there is nowhere else you can see a production of the hit farce The Play That Goes Wrong for $44. We are the best deal anywhere.”

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The Play That Goes Wrong is a co-production with The Citadel Theatre and The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. TC’s October production of The Lehman Trilogy is a co-production with Arts Commons Presents, and its January production of A Streetcar Named Desire will be co-produced with The Citadel.

“Sharing production costs is not the only reason we are partnering with other companies. It’s about community building. It’s about getting theatre companies to be partners, not competitors, and it’s a way to give actors longer runs than just a month. We’re trying to give actors the financial and moral boost they deserve after the pandemic when they were unemployable.”

Arima believes the bulk of this year’s season ticket subscribers are a result of those budget tickets. One-third of TC’s inventory, or 22,000 tickets, have been sold to subscribers, which means people are getting hooked on the idea of being regular theatregoers.

“We feel privileged people have faith in us, from what they experienced last season. We know people have limited disposable income. We are determined to give them the best quality entertainment we can for those dollars.”

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While Theatre Calgary and Vertigo have been struggling to recover from the crippling artistic and financial effects of the pandemic, Alberta Theatre Projects had the added burden of dealing with the sudden death of artistic director Darcy Evans in 2020, and the sudden departure of a successor in 2022.

The torch was passed to Haysam Kadri, and in one year he has made significant strides. Last season he partnered with Theatre Calgary for productions of Made in Italy and Selma Burke, and with Vancouver’s Arts Club for The Birds and the Bees. which were all presented in the Martha Cohen Theatre. He produced The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon to cap off a financially and artistically successful season.

“Understandably, our season ticket sales can’t match Vertigo and Theatre Calgary, but they are already the best ATP has enjoyed in 15 years, and we still have at least six weeks to go. Our single-ticket sales are just as impressive. Most of the matinee performances of Charlotte’s Web are sold out, as are many of the regular performances, putting that production on track to become the best-selling holiday show in ATP’s 50-year history,” says Kadri.

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He credits the overwhelming success of The Black Bonspiel on “nostalgia, not just for W.O. Mitchell, but for a play that reminds us ATP was created, to tell Alberta stories. It also helped that we programmed it to coincide with the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.”

This season, Kadri has included the basketball drama King James because “it’s a generational thing. A younger audience is going to be able to identify with it, and it’s important we create a future base to complement our regular base. We have to give people a reason to come to live theatre. They are tired of streaming. That got them through the pandemic. It’s not what they want anymore.”

Kadri says people don’t just want fluff when they come to the theatre.

“They want consistency of quality. They want to know they’ll be getting their money’s worth, and they want diversity of storytelling. They don’t want the same thing over and over again. It’s up to all of our theatre companies to recreate the theatre-going habits people had before the pandemic. They have to relearn that habit and we have to be their teacher, and that’s a huge responsibility.

“The big test is subscriptions versus single tickets. Audience members need to want to establish a lasting relationship with us.”

One of the hooks Kadri has this season to draw an audience is his casting of renowned Canadian actor Paul Gross in the opening October play, Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer.

“Paul’s involvement in our season has captured the hearts of Calgarians. He’s as big a Canadian celebrity who has not left the country as you can get, and he hasn’t been on a Calgary stage in 42 years. That’s what I call a draw.”

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