Is this the Final Curtain for The Fredericton Playhouse

With its 55th birthday coming up the final curtain could be around the corner for the Fredericton Playhouse that has added so much to the life of the City.

With reporting of system failures, show cancellations and fire code violations the drama and doubt of the institutions future are felt by the arts community from the gallery.
Employing 15 full-time staff, 30-40 part-time, and 70 dedicated volunteers the Fredericton Playhouse is also known well by millions of guests to have filled seats in its lifetime.

Tim Yerxa, was able to explain the problems facing the not for profit managing the facility as well as the community that’s relied on it.
Yerxa has been the executive director of Fredericton Playhouse Inc since 2000, when the group took over management of the facility from TNB, revealed the crippling’ failures still going behind the scenes.

“For example, during a showing of Spamalot the ceiling in front of the stage was being rained on, and we had plastic tarps up in the catwalks held by 14 people catching rain and letting it fill buckets… The building is only our instrument to make these shows happen, and it is broken. ”
“The most significant issues are heating and ventilation and trying to fix problems in a building that was being fed by the Centennial building’s heat that was pumped in through pipes. The bottom line is that the building was not built with a long life in mind; it is lucky to get to fifty.”
The building’s systems are now immovable and dysfunctional as renovations since 1972 piled on top of each other to build up the current complications.
A total replacement is the next step as the existing building will be demolished after all equipment and fixtures that can be reused are removed.

In 2007 consultants were hired to see how the Playhouse could utilize their budget in restoring the structural failures that were already slowing down and had halted shows.

“They said you shouldn’t bother with this renovation because the moment you start you won’t be able to stop. That’s when we realized we have to replace it when refurbishment was not an option. To build a new facility for the community of the future.”

According to Tom Smart director of the Beaverbrook Gallery the failures of the theater are good for the gallery.

“We have had artists like Jeremy Dutcher requesting to perform here to sold out shows. We are’nt even a venue to be honest and it is welcome but none the less alarming because I thought we had a theater in this city.”

So, with the facilities struggles in mind and ambitious plans forming the hopeful foundation of a future Fredericton and this side of the Wolastoqe river are left wondering if the project that started at 33 million-dollar estimates and climbed to 50 will be feasible in coming years as the building’s problems get worse by the day.