The staff at the Charles Bailey Theatre in Trail has big plans for the coming years.
Year One of a three-year plan transferring the responsibilities of the theatre from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary to the Trail and District Arts Council is underway.
Nadine Tremblay, the current theatre manager, has been hired as the new marketing and public relations person and is getting the word out that there is a stage and seats ready and waiting for theatre-goers.
Part of Tremblay's marketing plan starts off with more programming open to theatre-goers and she hopes to inspire more people to visit the theatre for a live show.
“We want to do our best to get people back and to keep people coming regularly,” she said. “There are four children's shows coming up. We identified that as something the community wanted.”
The children's shows include a theatre presentation, a music show, and a clown comedy act. Along with shows for the kids, Tremblay is planning some performances that will also appeal to the adult crowd.
“We are going to be doing another series called 'Something Completely Different,'” she said. “It is a show series that will develop the community and ease people back into the arts. There hasn't been much of that going on.”
These planned performances are just the tip of the iceberg.
“Year One is mostly about promoting the theatre,” she said. “[We want to get] bigger acts from around the region promoted and to get more local users. We also want people who are already using the theatre to use it more.”
Tremblay says “Something Completely Different,” is hoping to host a burlesque show at the theatre, with a few other potential ideas such as interactive workshops to get the audience involved in performances.
Along with promotion of new shows and workshops, Tremblay wants to get more community groups renting the theatre for their own events with lower rent expenses as per the three-year agreement with the RDKB.
“[The cost of renting the theatre] has been drastically reduced,” she said. “The cost to rent the theatre is the same, but every renter is going to be saving about $600 on sound and lighting. Those are the kinds of things the regional district is going to absorb and pay on behalf of renters.”
The next step for the theatre is going to be taking on “big capital projects,” said Tremblay. The second year of the three-year agreement includes physical upgrades to the theatre.
“We are going to get some bigger signage [for the front of the theatre], we are going to build a concession and we hope that we will be getting ventilation for the theatre. It gets hot in there in the summer months,” she said, adding that they are planning on making ticketing changes in the future.
The number one goal for this three-year plan is to raise attendance at the theatre and Tremblay believes this plan is the way to go.
“We are really trying to get bums in seats,” she said.
“We are trying to get people to get dynamic. We don't want them to sit at home and watch YouTube when they could see the real deal live.”