Is Toronto Theatre in Deep Trouble?
A recent post on Blog T.O. by Graeme laments the state of theatre in Toronto. One week ago, the “axe fell” at the Canadian Stage Company. Nine employees had to leave “in the face of a $694,000 two season loss and a total debt load of $1 million.” This is bad news for CanStage, but is also reflects on the plight of theatre in Toronto. Graeme ponders in his post about how “a theatre company with a 50 year history” could lose so much money in two years. The answer, he says, “has to do with a kind of identity crisis.” There are external factors like “September 11th, SARS and a strong Canadian dollar” which has “wiped out much of the American audience that used to drive big-budget shows in the city.” But Graeme believes CanStage doesn’t really know what it is anymore. Of this season’s eight offerings, “five are by American authors. One is a 26 year-old musical based on a 48 year-old movie. Another is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel.” They just don’t seem to fit together. The “scatters
