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 Powerhouse Theatre - Vernon, BC Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 50° 16.044 W 119° 16.200
11U E 338227 N 5570827
Fifty Two years old this year, the Powerhouse Theatre celebrated its 50th birthday in September of 2013.
Waymark Code: WMN70J
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/08/2015
Views: 2
The theatre, after 52 years, is still going strong. It stages about four plays per year, with many performances of each play available. Recent past performances include such works as A Snow White Christmas, Little Shop Of Horrors, Annie, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Woman in Black, Grease, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Taming of the Shrew, Oliver!, You Can't Take it With You and Peter Pan.
The theatre's home is an old powerhouse built in 1910 and given by the Vernon Electric Company to the theatre in 1963 when the building became outdated and of no more use to the power company. Renovated by volunteer labor and donations, it has been expanded five times, becoming the first-class prizewinning “Powerhouse Theatre”.
Just prior to the theatre's 50th birthday the Vernon Morning Star ran an article on the theatre and its upcoming birthday celebrations, which was quite informative. It is reproduced in part below.
Powerhouse: A theatre for 50 seasons
by Kristin Froneman - Vernon Morning Star
posted Sep 11, 2013 at 1:00 AM
Six years before the summer of love, a group of actors, directors, writers and community builders, all of whom loved the stage, would come together to build a new theatre in Vernon.
That’s when Vernon Little Theatre moved into its new home, an old, abandoned power station turned warehouse that would become one of the city’s gems.
After careful planning and extensive renovation, the curtain would rise Nov. 23, 1963 with a gala performance of Jean Giraudoux’s The Mad Woman of Chaillot, directed by one of the theatre’s founding members, Paddy Malcolm.
The theatre society and building would eventually become known as Powerhouse Theatre and for the past five decades, the curtain has continued to rise on community theatre productions that have made patrons smile, cry, laugh and sing along.
About to host its 50th celebration with its current and past members this weekend, some of whom are coming from as far as England, Powerhouse’s colorful history is detailed in a new book.
“The book relays the theatre’s history starting in 1963 and goes right to the present,” said Powerhouse’s current business manager, marketing and publicity director Barb Keith. “We are so grateful in the theatre to have Lorraine Allum, our archivist, who gathered many of the photos for the book; some of which are being displayed on the walls inside the theatre, as well as to our 50th anniversary committee co-chairs Kristine Larsen and Joan Karstensen who did a lot of the work.”...
Read more at the Vernon Morning Star
Theater Name: Powerhouse Theatre
Country: Canada
Address:
2901 35th Avenue
Vernon, BC Canada
V1T 2S7
Web Site: [Web Link]
Venue: Community Theater
Type of Productions:
Repertory, Musicals, Shakespeare, Broadway, etc., etc...
Restored Building: yes
Date of Construction: ca. 1910
Stage Type: Proscenium
Seating Capacity: 240
Special Productions/Events/Festivals:
Essentially plays all year with a hiatus through January.
Architect/Designer: Not listed
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