To say the Thorold Community Theatre has been going through a hard time might be an understatement. After a few difficult pandemic years, the troupe lost their rehearsal and venue space, when Trinity United Church on Pine St. S was sold.
The theatre group has been adrift ever since, but now they’re looking to take things into a new direction.
Long-time member Daniel Willis was recently appointed as the group's president, and he intends to chart a new course.
“It's my job to turn the ship around,” Willis says, in an interview with ThoroldToday.
As part of the new direction, the group is changing their name to the Thorold Vagabond Theatre.
“Last year, I put forward a motion to change [the name] from Thorold Community Theatre to Thorold Theatre — with losing our community hall and to kind of change how we thought of ourselves,” says Willis.
Thorold Theatre soon morphed into the Thorold Vagabond Theatre, as the group is no longer tied to a venue in Thorold.
“I think the ‘Vagabond Theatre’ idea really keeps us well in the marketplace,” says Willis. “And there is always a chance that the Thorold community will have a hall for us in a year or so. I think my executive would agree in a heartbeat if it were to become available.”
The city is currently looking to revitalize the Allanburg Community Centre with the TCAG as the main tenant, but the building could also potentially have space for the theatre troupe.
While returning to Thorold is a long-term goal, the Thorold Vagabond Theatre is planning a variety of new productions this year, in which they’re looking to break the mould.
“The spring show will not be a two-act, 95-minute stage production of a farce, which is what we would normally do,” Willis says. “I'm planning on a night of one acts. It is a reduced ambition to help us bootstrap ourselves to a November show. And then, I’ve just finished a script. My intention is to move that into a tour of Niagara in various locations and run that through the summer.”
Thorold Vagabond Theatre plans to stage their November show at the Bank Art House in Welland.
“I saw this space about weeks ago, and I just fell in love,” Willis says. “And I thought, this is where I want to go. This is where I want to be.”
But staging new shows costs money, which is why the group is hosting a karaoke fundraiser at the Bank Art House on Sunday, February 16, at 7 p.m.
The evening will be a chance for the community “to come and meet us, to ask questions, to meet our actors, to meet our producers, to meet our directors and our executives,” says Willis.
Tickets for the event are $15 and there will also be door prizes.
It is safe to say that the Thorold Vagabond Theatre is sailing a whole new course.
“I see this as my role, to take what is built, what we built on and move towards a new future,” says Willis. “That informs my new timeline, which is building on tradition, acting for the future.”