Welcome Friends.

2015 has been a tremendous season at Chemainus Theatre. We’ve enjoyed knock-out theatrical productions and a record number of sold out houses. This season also marks the close of our current strategic plan titled Sustaining the Festival 2012 – 2015 and what a way to cap things off!

Our Board of Directors recently met to review the plan and it was so gratifying to recount the accomplishments and milestones achieved during this period.

To me, the highlights have included…

• Striving for higher artistic standards and diversity by staging a wide range of productions from intimate dramas like A Shayna Maidel and Waiting for the Parade to musical tributes such as Buddy and our largest production to date Les Misérables.
• The complete (and slightly overdue) renovation of the Playbill Dining Room with the addition of the popular Fireside Lounge.
• The launch of our 60 seat Studio Theatre (next door to the Best Western) with Freud’s Last Session.
• Expanding of our theatre networks by joining the Professional Association of Canadian Theatre as affiliate members and attending the annual conference.
• Revamping the Gallery Gift Shop with new lighting and an updated mix of merchandise.

Of course, all this was made possible by you – our audience. We’re pleased to reach the above goals. Engaging our audience in a deep and meaningful manner is essential for sustaining great theatre. The beating heart of any vibrant theatre is its audience. As we embark on the planning process to set our next strategic plan, I thank you for your support along the way and look forward to the journey ahead.

Randal Huber

Whether you’re here for the first time or your fiftieth, we’re elated that you’ve joined us today in Chemainus!

The show that you’re about to see is the culmination of a lengthy, intensive creative process. As much as two years can pass from the day that we obtain licensing rights for a production to the day that show opens.

All of our shows are fully professional with directors, designers and casts from across Canada. The full host of creative talent converges on Chemainus weeks before the scheduled opening, to rehearse and bring to life all those lines of text and bars of notes contained in the script. Over the course of a season, we employ over 150 artists to stage eight different theatrical productions.

The Theatre is fortunate to own all of the facilities that we require to create and perform productions. From the 270 seat main stage theatre that you’re sitting in today, to the rehearsal hall, costume shop, scene shop and offices all located a few blocks away next door to the Best Western Hotel – they’re all dedicated to providing you with an amazing theatrical experience.

The Chemainus Theatre is a registered charity, just the same as all Canadian theatres from the smallest to the very largest like the Shaw or Stratford Festivals in Ontario. We draw about 70,000 theatre-goers a year and you may be surprised to learn that we are the 3rd largest professional theatre in British Columbia.

This is all only possible with you – a wonderfully supportive and engaged audience. Thank you for attending and we hope you leave here today enriched, entertained and eagerly looking forward to your next Chemainus Theatre Experience.

Randal Huber