Strand moves on without 7 Ages

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This article was published 08/07/2011 (5445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The demise of one of Brandon’s foremost community theatre groups apparently won’t threaten the viability of the Strand Theatre into a multi-use community performance space.

7 Ages Productions, the community theatre group formed in 1997 by then-high school drama teacher George Buri, conducted its final curtain call with its early April production of "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story."

Buri told the Sun earlier this week he put his theatrical creation on hiatus to focus on his fall provincial election campaign in the constituency of Brandon West, where he is running as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Manitoba.

But regardless of whether he can pull off a win in the Oct. 4 election, Buri said 7 Ages as it currently exists is done.

"I’ve been involved in theatre for well over 50 years," he said recently.

"I’ve never really had a Sunday night at home in 40 years. Sometimes, you just know that it’s time to be done."

In the initial business plan put together for the Strand Theatre project in 2009, Buri and 7 Ages had been listed as a substantial supporter of the revitalized facility.

Buri submitted a user statement suggesting it would stage 18 theatre performances and 63 rehearsals in the building each year if suitable renovations were made to facilitate theatre groups — about 20 per cent of facility’s total usage.

However, project spokesperson Shandra MacNeill says she’s not at all worried that 7 Ages’ absence will leave a hole in their proposed scheduling.

"The whole strength of this proposal is that it did not rely on one single user group to make it work," she said. "The strength is that it uses over 40 groups to contribute to the ongoing, operating feasibility of the project."

A number of emerging cultural performance groups have expressed an interest in using the Strand since the idea of the project first surfaced and could easily fill the void left open by the absence of a community theatre group like 7 Ages, she added.

"At the time of the user consultations (in early 2009), the Latin cultural community had not even really coalesced yet. So we have user statements of people that have come forward in recent years that are not represented (in that document).

"Sometimes you have to build something before people come forward … but our business plan is solid."

However, MacNeill declined to provide the Sun with an updated version of the Strand project’s business plan, citing the fact that it is a private document with many sensitive components.

The document was submitted as part of the Strand project’s request for $2-million in funding from the Cultural Spaces program — a request that is currently being reviewed by both federal and provincial officials.

MacNeill said she has tentatively scheduled a stakeholder meeting in August, once staff are done with the Brandon Folk Festival, to update the Strand project’s potential users and tenants on architectural plans, funding and proposed construction schedules.

Approximately $200,000 in remediation work — the cost of which is being split by Renaissance Brandon and the theatre’s owners, Landmark Cinemas — is currently being carried out both inside and outside the Strand building to prepare it for its $4-million transformation.

However, as the building is still technically owned by Landmark Cinemas, MacNeill declined to provide an update as to how work is going.

"I’m in no authoritative position to say anything about what’s going on there," she said.

"I’m not in there."

Landmark Cinemas CEO Brian McIntosh has not returned numerous calls by the Sun seeking a progress update on the work being done in the Strand.