Located in Cookstown’s historic town hall, the South Simcoe Theatre will participate for the first time in the free Doors Open Simcoe County event this weekend.
The popular event, which opens historic buildings to the public across Simcoe County, will take place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This is the first time that the South Simcoe Theatre will be participating in the event, which is organized through Doors Open Ontario.
Doors Open Ontario works “with communities across the province to open the doors, gates and courtyards of their unique and most fascinating cultural sites so you can explore the stories inside.”
"We are very excited to introduce visitors from our neighbourhood, the region and beyond to our lovely theatre,” said South Simcoe Theatre president Nancy Chapple Smokler. “We are unique in the area as a well-respected community theatre and our building has a fascinating history that we’d love to share with people.
"We hope to entice those visitors to come back and enjoy one — or all — of our five productions in our upcoming season," she added.
In operation since 1966, the South Simcoe Theatre is celebrating its 40th anniversary at the Old Town Hall at 1 Hamilton St.
“To mark our 40th anniversary in the building, we will have a number of old photos from previous productions available to peruse prior to each show, as well as having several special raffles and draws at each production to help celebrate our wonderful relationship with the Town of Innisfil,” Chapple Smokler said.
Tours and information sessions about the theatre will be conducted this weekend, which will include information about their production and the building’s history.
Coffee, tea, and treats from Mad Hatter’s Table will be available to purchase. The South Simcoe Theatre accepts cash, Interac, Visa and Mastercard as payment.
“We will have a free draw for two tickets to any show in our (2023-24) season, theatre colouring pages for the children, as well information brochures about our upcoming season, a sign-up page for our newsletter and a sign-up page for volunteers,” Chapple Smokler said.
Chapple Smokler says it takes 12,000 volunteer hours to operate the South Simcoe Theatre each season.
“If those volunteers were paid staff, even at $15/hour, this represents a value of $180K to the theatre. These volunteers include front of house, box office, board members, actors, committee members, and production team associates, among others,” she said.
Though this weekend’s event is complimentary, donations to the theatre are appreciated.
“We always welcome donations to our theatre, however large or small. We are a charitable, not-for-profit community theatre and we exist due to our incredible army of volunteers,” Chapple Smokler said.
“With theatre audiences being slow to return since the pandemic, we, like many others, find ourselves having to be particularly careful about our coffers this season," she added. "We offer five productions per season. Two of those productions are musicals, the rights to which must usually be purchased from large rights holders in the U.S.
"The average cost for the rights alone for musicals can run between $6,000 to $10,000 Canadian per production, and the cost of everything from building materials to cleaning supplies and food for (the) front of house has skyrocketed.”
Chapple Smokler says the theatre's ticket prices are being held at pre-pandemic rates to entice more patrons to attend.
"However, that does pose a challenge to covering all of our costs," she noted. "We are also launching a new sponsorship program for both season and show sponsors and that information will be on our website shortly.”
South Simcoe Theatre also donates tickets to various community fundraisers, conducts a food drive, and partners with Canadian Blood Services to encourage blood donations.
When asked how plays are chosen for production at the South Simcoe Theatre, Chapple Smokler explained that a play selection committee is responsible for presenting its choices that suit production criteria to the board of directors, who are charged with making the final selections.
“We have a similar Four Play play selection group that reviews plays submitted by local playwrights for our Four Play Play Reading Festival, held each June," she added.
Playwrights are encouraged to submit their plays for consideration by Nov. 30, 2023 to [email protected] and more information about the play reading festival is also available on the theatre's website.
There are also other ways for members of the community to get involved.
“We are always interested in hearing from potential volunteers for a variety of positions, including our board of directors, front of house, box office, painting and set construction, and production team members among others," Chapple Smokler said. "Interested folks can email us at [email protected] to discuss their interests and to learn more about what is involved. Auditions for actors are held throughout the year and those interested can follow us on social media.”
The theatre company also encourages people to sign up for their monthly newsletters to get "hot-off-the-press" audition notices, calls for volunteers and production team members, as well as other information about South Simcoe Theatre.
Street parking is available for guests this weekend on the south side of Hamilton Street, as well as on various side streets, but Chapple Smokler said to watch for no-parking signs as the theatre is in a residential neighbourhood. There is also parking on the east and west sides of County Road 27, south of Highway 89.
To learn more about South Simcoe Theatre’s involvement in Doors Open Ontario, click here.
