The opening of a new $61-million secondary in Coquitlam is prompting School District 43 to push the rental of the school’s 253-seat professional theatre and two others it manages.
At last Tuesday’s board of education meeting, SD43 chief financial officer and secretary-treasurer Chris Nicolls said he wants to generate more revenue from the new Centennial venue as well as from the theatres at Heritage Woods in Port Moody and Terry Fox in Port Coquitlam.
“The Centennial theatre is new this year so it brings new opportunities to the school district,” Nicolls told The Tri-City News last Friday. “We are putting more energy to renting these two additional theatres as the Terry Fox Theatre is in high demand during the November to June time period and we want to provide alternate locations and opportunities to our communities.”
Nicholls hopes SD43 can book the Fox theatre’s low months with private events.
According to his report, Terry Fox Theatre — a 336-seat proscenium theatre that opened in 1999 and is attached to Terry Fox secondary — was used for public functions 236 times between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, which earned SD43 a total of $79,973 in user fees (in the previous reporting period, the theatre was used for 164 public events).
The city of PoCo, which contributed to the construction of the Terry Fox Theatre, also rented it out, mostly for its Sunday Coffee Concerts.
Still, there are some challenges with renting out Heritage Woods and Centennial theatres, Nicholls noted in his report.
At Heritage Woods, which has a 328-seating capacity and a grand hall for receptions, there’s limited back of house space and no grand piano available; as well, custodial hours are charged at double time on Sundays as there’s no manager on site.
The disadvantages are even greater at Centennial, Nicholls noted, citing the lack of dressing room (needed for dance recitals and plays); the stage right access is only from the back of house; there’s no grand piano; and there is no external loading dock to the stage level nor a cooling system.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
@jcleughTC
