The grand opening of the Centrepointe Studio Theatre was a vision 25 years in the making according to artistic director for the City of Ottawa theatres, Charles McFarland.
“It’s great to be here tonight celebrating the vision of Barbara Feldman, the founding manager of Centrepointe Theatre,” he said.
The expansion of the theatre – used by international stars and local theatre groups – has been in the works since the 1990s and was set to go ahead in 2002, but for amalgamation and lack of funding.
The theatre has been in use since a May preview show of Hamlet by the Ottawa Shakespeare Company, but officially kicked things off with a performances by Ottawa band the Peptides.
Following the Peptides, patrons were serenaded by Mark Masri – who will be playing at the Shenkman in December.
McFarland said the theme of this year’s line up is going to be Where You Live, highlighting the availability of great shows locally.
“We can see amazing things right here in our neighbourhoods, without having to go downtown,” McFarland said.
With a performances in the areas of rock, pop, Celtic, jazz, folk, classical, Canadiana, comedy and live entertainment – there promises to be a show for every taste and style.
Following the opening of the new theatre was Celtic Thunder, with names like the Crash Test Dummies and John Prine set to hit the stage later in the season.
Italian sensation Zucchero will be at Centrepointe in October, and in keeping with the international flavour, patrons can catch Australian Pink Floyd just a week later.
There also promises to be comedic delights with the Arrogant Worms hitting the stage in November.
In the spring Mel Brook’s musical Young Frankenstein will run for two days.
Over at Shenkman, things get started off with Fred Eaglesmith in October, followed by 54-40 in November.
On the comedic side, the Good Lovelies are slotted for Dec. 13, followed by Mark Masri and a rendition of Led Zepplin’s IV in late December and early January.
The lineup was met with applause from the audience at the studio theatre’s opening.
McFarland said the new theatre was more than equipped to handle any kind of performance thanks to the start-of-the-art lighting equipment made possible by a Trillium grant given to the local theatre company GOYA.
“Barbara’s vision made it possible for me to call and ask for what I think is one of the largest grants every given to a community theatre group,” said Gord Carruth, founding president of GOYA. “And the confidence in our theatre group and the fact that we are the only one doing exclusively Canadian shows is why we got it.”
Jim Tsarouhas, executive vice president of Tofcon Construction Inc, said that Tofcon was founded with the mind to work on projects that would benefit the community.
“This was the first foray into a community theatre project,” Tsarouhas said of the new Centrepointe Studio Theatre. “And we are proud to be a part of it.”