Ep. 127 Globe Theatre

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Today we’re going behind the scenes to learn a little bit more about a community icon. The Globe Theatre is an important part of the community fabric in Regina, and our guests today, Heather Ervin, the Director of Development, and Kenilee Kehler, the Direction of, the Director of Production, will share their stories with us.

So welcome to you both. Heather, why don’t you kick us off, and tell us a little bit about yourself. and the 24 25 season with the Globe Theatre.

Well, thanks so much, Barb, and thanks for having Kenilee and myself here today to talk about the Globe Theatre one of our favourite things in the world.

Absolutely.

I so I’m a Regina kid. I grew up here doing theatre classes, actually. Kenilee and I and our director of our first show did a production together back in our teens. And we Wow.

Okay, now what production was it and what roles did you each play?

We were in a production of The Wizard of Oz with Class Act and do it with Class Theatre.

And each class did sort of a scene from it. So it wasn’t like a traditional production in that way, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was the Cowardly Lion. Okay,

and Kenilee, what was your role?

I was the Wicked Witch and had a lot of fun as a kid walking down Broad Street to 7 Eleven in my full green paint because I didn’t have a shower in between shows.

Oh, that’s awesome.

Okay, do you each remember a long time ago? No? Raaah!

There we go! Okay, you know that’s coming back to haunt you. That’s awesome. Okay, I completely interrupted you, Heather. 24, 25 seconds. That’s okay.

Okay. Yeah, so we are really excited to be returning to the round. So, because we are a theatre, we’re returning to the round after our A man’s amazing construction project.

We’re returning to the round in three acts. So very theatrically. So our first act that happens this fall with the production of Peter Pan Peter Pan. It’s bad. It’s a version by Bad Hat Theater. And they really focus on the retelling traditional stories in a new way. So it feels fresh and familiar all at the same time.

And Jennifer and the team have assembled this incredible group of Regina artists. to really celebrate this story, led by Director Judy. And Kelly can talk maybe in a minute about, a little bit more about the team that’s put together for that show, because it is, it’s incredible. It’s a celebration of Regina, of Regina artistry, and of the Beloved family tradition of bringing everyone, you know, and love together to the globe for Christmas.

So we’re really excited to be back in for act one. So everything that’s in the Corkadel place, our building, the Corkadel place, everything inside that we need to run a show in the main stage on our Rawlinson main stage in the round, the beloved. The round that the people of Regina love will be ready for our audiences on November 27th where we preview and then we open on November 29th.

So the lobbies, the bars, so that you can bring your drink into your new wider seat with a cup holder, all of those things will be ready. Our tech team and our production crew are working incredibly hard behind the scenes also to make sure that the theatre magic is happening and that’ll be ready for the stage.

So we’re really excited for act one in the fall fall, winter for Peter Pan.

Excellent. You know, it’s interesting to look at any type of experiential type of offering in the community. The expectations that we as visitors or guests have, have increased astronomically, right? And whether I’m going to Globe or I’m going to Cineplex, you know, it’s these big wide cushy chairs with cup holders and, and the surround sound.

And so that must challenge the organization a little bit too, because you need to continue to meet those expectations to keep your chairs full.

Oh, 100%. It’s also you know, not just the experience when you’re there, because I firmly believe, and I’m sure Kenilee would agree, that we offer an incredible experience when you’re in our building.

Our patron services team with our director of patron services and sales, Jamie Oakley, they’re in the middle of training and hiring new people. They are so in tune to what our audiences need and how they interact with the space. That’s incredible. But. You know, we’re in this stage in life and marketing to speak to what you do here to bar.

But, you know, they use the term event is sizing everything. So it’s not enough just to come and see an incredible production. You want it to be an experience. So it’s that experiential marketing that event is sizing in that sense. Some of the work that we have to do as we’re moving back into the building.

Now, we’re very fortunate that the building itself is a draw after four years. So that in and of itself is an event, is an experience. And we have all these accessibility and experience improvements to the space. So like I mentioned, we’ve got cupholders in the seats. The seats are wider. There’s more leg room for everybody.

I mean, it doesn’t

feel like being on an airplane anymore.

It does not. Maybe except for that you’re like lifted to new heights from the, what you see on the stage, but, but the, you know, there’s that also the sightlines have been improved. So everybody has a great view of the stage. I’m going to ask Kenilee can talk a bit about the, the technical improvements as well, because they’re really special.

I, I can just say it’s going to sound so much better, but Kenilee can get into why and all of the, the exciting improvements in our state of the art facility.

Okay, well, that sounds awesome. Kenilee, let’s hand it over to you. Tell us a little bit about some of these improvements that we can expect.

Yes, well, it’s, it’s so exciting to be on this precipice and working with this new building because we are getting all of the state of the art equipment that will be with us for the next year. 20 or 30 years. So we’re going you know, starting my, my first love was lighting or that was my kind of first in foray into theater.

And so our lighting rig is a full led rig. So it’s much more energy efficient. We have more lighting. Fixtures that are, that allow our designers so much more potential, all the fixtures, all the lighting that we have are all color changing. So every single one of them can change colors to be whatever you want them to be.

It just allows so much more creativity for all of our designers. And then sound. Similarly, we’ve been working with some world class acousticians, which is a word I didn’t know until we were building this theater to make sure that every single seat has that absolute optimal experience and that they are getting the same sound.

That every seat was getting we’re again all new equipment that will take us into the upcoming decades and keep us at the forefront of Canadian theater. Like there are so few theaters that will have the level of technology that we will be having with our lights and sound our craft room. You know, and we come from a theater.

I remember before the pandemic. Before the remnant the renovations, you know, our elevator couldn’t fit a four by eight sheet of plywood and our carpentry shop was on the third floor. So we all had to carry up four by eight sheets of plywood up three, you know, two flights of stairs, or we had several motorcycles in shows.

If people might remember all shook up and having to carry that up the grand staircase because it didn’t fit in the elevator. So things like that, just making it from. our staff experience also so much more magical. It’s just, it’s so exciting to be involved in this project. Go

ahead, Heather.

Oh, sorry, Barb.

I just was going to say, do you mind sharing you mentioned trap room and, and I, and I said catwalk maybe earlier or just thought it, do you mind sharing what those, are just for the audience. They might not know. And they’re so excited. And I know our team is pretty thrilled about them.

Yeah. So a catwalk is steel and, and a system above the theater so that you can actually walk around the ceiling.

So things like hanging lights, hanging you know, Sound things potential rigging things of, you know set pieces coming up and down can all be done up in the air instead of previously we had to do everything with scaffolds and extension ladders. And it was it was time consuming. It wasn’t as safe as you know, you.

Ladders are safe if you treat them safely, but, you know, being up on a catwalk that has bars that you can’t fall out of is so much safer and it just allows us so much more opportunities with our tech, with our lights, with our sound, with our raking. And then the trap room is, it’s a really fantastic system from a company out of Manitoba that has all of our stage is broken up into four foot by four foot sections that can be removed.

And then there’s essentially it’s a whole 17 foot down. So if we need a staircase that goes to a basement, we can do that. If we need somebody to appear from, you know, the depths of the So the underworld we can and so it’s just, it opens up again. So much of these creative elements from that, our team, like if you can dream it, we can do it.

And that’s, that’s exactly what I was thinking about. Cause from an artistic standpoint, all of a sudden, anything that you can imagine has possibility that you can bring to life. And even as you talk about the, you know, four by eight sheets of plywood and the motorcycles that you would get up, I mean, those were things that you could figure out a way to make happen before, but I guarantee there was also things that you just could not realistically do without taking the roof off the building and dropping them in.

And, of course, that’s not a possibility. So, you know, the, all of the changes are going to just be. Open the doors to, you know, what is possible. And when you, when you start to think about acoustics, you know, I think back to one of the last opportunities I had to be in the building. And I can’t remember what show it was for.

Like, I mean, the acoustics were. We’re good. But, you know, maybe not great, and there’s those times where you couldn’t quite hear what happened and I would presume that, you know, kind of all of that has changed now and you don’t appreciate it until you’re in the space, and you go, wow, like, blown away, right?

And I always feel tech’s goal as a, as a person that’s just been ingrained in backstage theater my whole life is my goal is that you don’t notice it. You just feel it. You feel the magic. You feel it, but you’re not saying, oh, that sound was really amazing. It’s like, oh, my God, I just felt every note or I did all of that.

I felt every emotion of that actor or just, you know, You know, but you don’t know, you don’t necessarily know why we’re that supportive, but we’re, we’re just hidden under the surface there. And again, it just allows us to do that so much more.

Our, our artistic director, Jennifer always says, when we talk about these renovations and, and Kenilee gets to share all the, the amazing tech improvements and, and you know, the catwalk and things like that.

And Jennifer always says that. Now we have to, we get to spend less time trying to figure out how to do it and more time making art as a whole, so all of the teams together and, and ultimately that’s, that’s our goal at the theater. So our mission is, is threefold with a focus on excellent professional theater and on community and on education.

So it’s really exciting for us that our new Building this place, we have all 4 floors in a basement and we’ll be able to live up to all elements of that especially as you know, I mentioned earlier, act 1 act 2 will be happening in the spring in March and April and that’s what the rest of the public spaces and the private spaces will all be complete.

So the Bocas theater school. Will be complete. That’s in our basement. We now have permanent home for our theater school. The youth have a place to hang their bags as simple as that might sound, but a lounge that they can take over a place where parents can hang out. It’s really exciting for us.

And then our community theater will also be finished and that’s A real jewel in downtown. It’s a, it’s a jewel in this project for us. It is a full professionally outfitted community theater black box space. So black box means no fixed seating. It means you can move the seats around to be any configuration.

There doesn’t have to be seats. And then the idea behind that community theater is yes, we’ll be doing some programming in there, but it really is an asset for our community, for our independent artists. For the artistic community for cultural groups to be able to have a space that’s affordable that has all the bells and whistles that Kelly was talking about that AV equipment our lighting equipment, that’s all going to be fitted in that space as well.

So a professionally outfitted space downtown Regina. It’s going to be so exciting. I get, I kind of get emotional when we talk about that space because I think that it is a real embodiment of the mission of our organization. And our Jennifer, Artistic Director, also says, you know, the goal is that the building will be filled 363.

So we say, Oh, good. We get two days off. But The, the idea behind this, The space also is that, you know, we were starting this year Jennifer and Kelly have been working with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the RSO. We’re going to have lunchtime free concerts in our space in the new year, which is very exciting.

And that’s just the start. That’s sort of the tip of the iceberg of these community programming events and the capabilities we have in this, this beautiful new space. So with four floors at at our theatre school we have so many opportunities for community engagement, events, eventizing, experiential events, those sorts of things.

So we’re really looking forward to it. So that’s Act Two. And then Act Three. Three, we come in in the fall where over the summer, the rest of the exterior work will be done and we get to have a grand reopening party in celebration of the globe’s 60th anniversary. So the 25th. Yeah.

That is something.

Yeah, the 25 26 season celebrates our 60th, so it’s a really exciting time for the organization with the, with the renovations coming to a close to be able to announce that 60th season and to use the building next year all of McCorquodale Place, our our community theater, our main stage, the Lisa Mitch Mulder Trap Room, the catwalk, everything.

All to celebrate 60 years of theater making in our province. So,

and I can just imagine how busy that’s keeping you right now. It might be a year away, but I mean, that’s probably where a huge amount of your energy is going. I’m just, you know, trying to plan a 16th anniversary because that’s absolutely huge.

How many community theaters do you think make it to that 60 year mark?

Well, yeah, I’m sorry. You can say if you have a thought.

No, I just think it’s it’s such a great achievement and I was around when the 50th season happened and we had a royal visit and that like felt like this absolutely massive achievement and couldn’t imagine still, you know, 10 years later, still doing this amazing work and especially with the pandemic and that lot of.

A lot of arts institutions are really struggling and we we’re just really excited to thrive in our new venue and, and be around for another 60 years.

No, I really liked what you said, Heather, about the partnership with RSO, because I think one of the things that we so often see in community based organizations, because resources can be thin you know, every organization is just trying to survive.

And so you get, and this isn’t a negative or a criticism, but you get very focused on, like, what do I have to do just to ensure that my organization survives? So I love hearing about these partnerships. Can you talk a little bit more about that partnership? Or do you, do you know more about it yet?

About the, sorry, the RSO? The partnership

with RSO. Yeah. Do you know more about that partnership?

Well, I mean, the partnership is to share space and resources, and it’s kicking off with three lunchtime concerts in in the new year. And then the hope is that that can continue to find collaborative programming over the next few years as well.

So we can’t make any promises or announcements. But I, I would say that, you know community engagement and partnerships is, is a major part of the work that we do at the Globe Theatre. It’s, you know, it’s actually, it’s built into my title, too, now. So we’ve, we’ve really, in the way that we describe the work we do, it’s really important to us.

So I, I can’t give you any more information on it at this time, other than we have dates on our website and you should come and see the concerts for free. But we won’t be doing those sort of until that sort of act two time in the new year as we, you know, we really have to focus in the fall on getting our our space prepared for audiences for the first show back in our space since 2020 and our big return to the round, so.

So

that was one of the things I was thinking in the back of my mind. When did All of the, the plans for renovation actually start. It was the plans or the public, I guess the public launch of the plans. When did that start?

We started well, the demolition of the bill, so, like, started in 2020, they were doing.

reno’s all of that in the spring of 2020 and the demolition started in earnest in 20 November of 2020. But I I’ve been with the globe since 2009 and the plans for the reno’s have been in flux. It’s been a couple of months since I think my first or second year in terms of right, because it takes to do all of the, to do all the design work and the consultations to do the fund raising.

Is just the most massive endeavor, and we really owe a lot to the previous. Staff that really started this, this journey and, and and our current staff that have taken it through to this finish line, because it’s been a, again, it’s a 15 year process.

Exactly. That’s what I was just saying. If we use 2010 as a benchmark, it’s a 15 year process to your grand reopening next year for 16 years.

Right?

We, yeah, we’re definitely we get to stand on the shoulders of some amazing thought leaders and folks who, who had a vision. Kelly mentioned the staff and I’d also like to say the board and there were a lot of committees and folks who volunteered countless hours in you know, Laying out the project, sourcing the project finding initial funding and then getting to the public stage and then the demolition in 2020 and then follow that follow the public stage of the capital campaign.

And you know, we, it’s no secret that the pandemic was a major blow to the, the renovation and to our budget, you know, we, the, the folks before, before me, you. Had done such an excellent job with both grants and fundraising and community stewardship. And, you know, we had raised everything we needed for the project, plus, you know, a nice contingency and, but we just couldn’t, couldn’t anticipate the, the devastating effect that the pandemic would have on the construction costs.

You know, supply chain issues, labor increases, all that. Plus, you know, we didn’t know we’d have to replace the roof. That was a brand new, exciting adventure for us. And and everything was done to try to save as much of the building as possible. But, you know, we, it was described to us when we were on site the other day, that, you know, they went to take a sample of it.

And instead of a chunk of concrete, it came out sand and dust. So, obviously, we can’t put all of these new Technologies and amazing theater into a roof that won’t hold. So you know, an additional roof, plus all of those, those have have impacted the campaign for sure. And so we are experiencing and like, a full transparency there, there is a bit of a shortfall on the fundraising side.

So there’s still lots of opportunities to support the globe through this, this iconic renovation and this once in a lifetime generational project you know, Kenilee mentioned before that. You know, there’s been some closing of doors and artistic institutions across the country. The pandemic particularly hit performing arts organizations, the hardest and the recovery has been longer and harder.

And so all of, all of that to say we are at a time and in a place where we get to open the doors to a purpose built cultural institution. And that’s such a gift. And it’s also, you know, we don’t have any national corporations attached to this project. All of the fundraising, all of the money. We have federal funding.

We have provincial funding. We have municipal funding. But the rest of it has come from local Saskatchewan business organizations. Owners and individuals. It’s all Southern Saskatchewan money that’s going into this building and into this project into McCorkadale Place. And people are saying we choose community.

We choose creativity. We choose the globe. So it’s a really exciting time to be at the institution and to be working towards this, this beautiful goal. But there’s, there still is a ways to go. And so For, I just say that for the, for the community, there’s opportunities in small ways and big ways to have an impact on this project.

Absolutely. You know, I can just imagine one of your team meetings because the, the energy in a team meeting would be contagious and yet you need that energy to, to carry you through probably the next year in 18 months. And, and even once it’s open, I mean, if you’ve got a shortfall, you’re still trying to cover that shortfall.

So. You’ve got some work ahead of you, but amazing accomplishments, lady. Kudos to both of you, but to your entire organization and past teams and, and boards as well for this vision. Because you’ve really created something that in Saskatchewan, in Regina, isn’t something you would typically see in a community our size.

So it’s going to be very exciting to see it come to fruition. Just before we wrap up today Heather, can you give us one more plug for each of the acts that are upcoming and then Kenilee, maybe you want to share social channels and website with us. So that anyone who is listening can make sure that they have an opportunity to get involved.

Heather,

take it away. Yes,

absolutely. So, our season, our season this year is a four show season. As we return to the round at the Globe Theatre at McCorquodale Place, we start the season with Peter Pan, Bad Hats Peter Pan which is gonna be absolutely incredible, a real intergenerational opportunity for you to bring the grandkids, the parents, your friends to the theatre to experience this nostalgic childhood story.

Our second production of the year is an amazing show from Francis Konkin called Women of the Fur Trade. This production features three women who were sort of tired and bored of not being involved and sitting out of of the history. So they’re going to retell history in their own words using a lot of pop culture references And talking about that hot nerd Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance And we’re pretty excited to have Frances’s voice on our stage right here in the homeland of the Métis Nation, especially at this exciting time in, in their history.

The next show in the season is Steel Magnolias, which many people will remember from the movie, but it was a play first. And now we’re doing it here on our stage. It’s Robert Harleem’s. production features six sort of misfit women finding their own community in the place that they choose to spend time with the people that lift them up and can help them sort of weather anything in, in their lives.

And then the last production of the season is pretty exciting. It’s the first all Canadian professional production of Bring it on the musical which is pretty exciting for all of us. And for, for those musical theater nerds, you know, it has some pretty big, heavy hitters, Thomas Kitt, Lin Manuel Miranda associated with it.

So we are really excited to bring that to life right here in Saskatchewan, which is a huge cheerleading province. And to, to see that. The dramatic tension of street dance and cheer and you know, women empowerment take our stage. And, you know, our stage might not be big, wide, as we’re, we’re in the round, but it’s definitely tall, which makes for some exciting opportunities when you think about cheer.

So especially with that new catwalk. So we’re really excited for, for that sort of slate of shows. As we as we move back into our space and invite people to come back to the route.

Awesome. That is fantastic. I cannot wait to have an opportunity to be in that space. Kenalee tell us how folks can find you and then we will wrap up for today.

Yeah come visit our website, globetheaterlive. com there you can get all information on our shows potential opportunities for donorship if that’s where you know, your, your interest has led you you can get tickets there. There you can get them online or you can also call our box office 306 525 6400.

And Karen and Ann will be able to help you out, get your single tickets or season subscriptions for those four shows that Heather is was mentioning we are also all over social media and I always find it funny that I’m the one that talks about social media because I’m a bit of a. Social media let out.

I’ve got, you know, Facebook strong about it, but we’re on Facebook. We’re on Instagram, where I think we’re on Snapchat. I think we have a Reddit now. Or we were talking about that. We’ve got things everywhere. I think Heather might be shaking her head at me because maybe I’m not. But we are everywhere.

Globe Theatre Live. Come check us out. Make sure you don’t go to Globe Theatre in London and buy tickets. We’ve had that happen a few times. GlobeTheatreLive. com

Excellent. Well that sounds very good.

And for all of our listeners out there, if you want to do a great Google search, just do Globe Theatre Regina and you will pull up all of the information that you need to find.

Thank you. Thank you both for being with me here today. This was a fantastic conversation. I hope everyone who tunes in takes the opportunity to see the new space, participate and possibly become a seasoned subscriber either this year or next for the 60th anniversary. I know that’s something that would be very meaningful to Globe Theatre.

Now on that note, if you want to be a guest on the show you can contact me at Barb@AboveTheFold.Live or reach out to our Facebook and Instagram accounts at AboveTheFold. Let me try that again. Reach out on our Facebook and Instagram accounts at AboveTheFoldCA.

I’m your host, Barb McGrath, Google Girl, and local business cheerleader.

Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret.

Bye for now.