Don't blame the bums

It felt like a death in the family last week after the demise of the Atlantic Theatre Festival was announced. Of course, the signs were there: a lack of marketing, shows cancelled due to a lack of audience, and money worries. So the plug got pulled, sadness prevailed. And yet....

Niki Lipman delivered a tour de force with Shirley Valentine. The Drawer Boy was a fantastic production, but too few people saw it.

I know a lot of people who said that with tickets at $29.50, they were going to see a show each month. Catching three wasn’t to be. And, of course, there was pretty stiff competition at Ross Creek with Two Planks' outdoor adventure The Odyssey.

It was unfortunate that ATF artistic director Nigel Bennett lashed out at Valley audiences for not sticking their bums in seats. He said things like the community down here in the Valley needs to decide whether it wants the Atlantic Theatre Festival or not; there's an awful lot of apathy here; and we live or die on our audience and we died on our audience.

It wasn't ever that simple. After 12 years of every notable businessperson in town volunteering, people ushering, planting perennials and fundraising time after time after time, no one can put the blame squarely anywhere.

Oh sure, we could point a finger at the province or the federal government, but maybe a 500-seat theatre was just too big to start with. The quality of the work was never at issue.

David Swanson, the board of director's vice-chairman, said the board tried over the years to streamline the festival as much as possible to cut costs. "We all felt very passionate about the theatre and about what it could do for the Annapolis Valley and for Wolfville. We were believers."

As Mayor Bob Stead said in 2004 and again last week, "Wolfville is the kind of town in which there will always be theatre."

Perhaps the passion and belief in summer theatre can survive what happened last week if Michael Bawtree's grand vision can be set aside for a time. It may be that summer theatre needs a more modest venue - like the Al Whittle Theatre - for a season or two while it builds an audience. Festival Antigonish at 20 years of steady success might be the model worth emulating.

Speaking with veteran actor Raymond O'Neill after his run in The Drawer Boy was cut short, there was a strong sense of melancholy about the season that might’ve been. He was philosophical about the twists of fate, but after being here for the 1996, 2000 and 2007 seasons, he said it has always been challenging.

O'Neill reminded me of the undeniable legacy of the Atlantic Theatre Festival - the theatre itself. "It's a tremendous facility, a gift to cherish," he said.

The Festival Theatre with its unique thrust stage is a tremendous asset for Acadia University and, with cooperation, for all members of the performing arts community. We can't forget that some $2.6 million was contributed by various sectors to make Acadia’s old ice rink into a first-class professional theatre.

Without that theatre there wouldn’t have been 12 years of the community-based Fezziwig Family Christmas Frolic or the creative drama of the Women of Wolfville. In my own family, two young performers were cultivated on that stage.

The legacy is there and so is the community's love of theatre. That’s something upon which to build.