Students of Dance Oasis are pictured holding their 2015 recital at the community theatre at Osoyoos Secondary School. This year, the dance school held its recital at the better facility of the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver instead. OSS drama teacher Sarah Gilchrist wants a community committee to look at upgrades to the OSS theatre. (Richard McGuire file photo)

Sarah Gilchrist, the drama teacher at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS), would like to see a community committee formed to look at upgrading the theatre at the school.

Gilchrist spoke recently at the Rotary Club of Osoyoos where she gave an overview of some of the improvements the theatre needs to better serve students and community groups.

“It’s an amazing space compared to even some huge high schools in cities that just have gymnasiums to work with as theatre spaces,” she said. “It’s incredibly lucky that it’s there and it’s really beautiful, but I’ve noticed a lot of things that are really in need of repair, replacing or upgrading.”

Gilchrist didn’t have a specific ask for the Osoyoos Rotary Club, who she said was the first group she’s presented to on the issue. But she did suggest she’d like to see a theatre consultant hired to look at the facility and make recommendations.

A problem, she said, is that improvements have been made in a piecemeal manner by different groups as funds became available, without any cohesive vision.

The biggest user of the facility is the school, but as a community theatre, other groups also use it including the Osoyoos Concert Series, South Okanagan Amateur Players (SOAP), Okanagan International Chorus and Sage Valley Voices.

Until this year, Dance Oasis has also used the theatre, but this year their recital is at the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver.

Gilchrist said she had an expert look at the theatre several months ago while working with the lighting and they identified different small, medium and large needs to consider.

These range from providing a white backdrop on which scenes and lights can be projected to fixing broken seats to replacing the current older lights with LEDs.

“I think the biggest thing for me is to have a unified vision for that space instead of having bit by bit pieces added in that maybe match up or maybe don’t,” said Gilchrist.

She said she would like to meet with other stakeholders in the community about the idea of establishing a committee. This could include groups like SOAP, the Osoyoos Arts Council, School District 53 and the Town of Osoyoos, she said.

The theatre is owned by School District 53, which has paid to maintain it.

It was built, however, as a community auditorium with $210,000 in funding from Osoyoos and Area A taxpayers, following a referendum in 1977. That money, which included matching funds from the province, would be around $700,000 in today’s dollars.

Gilchrist noted that the concrete walls behind the stage make poor acoustics and the plywood stage floor is hard on dancers. There is also no room backstage for sets.

Rotarian Sandy Summers pointed out that there are no change rooms, meaning that actors have to change costumes in the gym bathrooms, which isn’t ideal.

Rotarian Marieze Tarr, who is also chair of School District 53, suggested an adopt-a-seat program could be considered like the one used to raise funds for the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver.

She noted that some families have bought seats to commemorate deceased loved ones.

“Adopt a seat is great because it’s something you can start right away,” Tarr suggested.

Rotarian Cheryle King noted that when Rotary took on the Splash Park project, it championed it as a community project and got other not-for-profit organizations and businesses involved, some of which donated goods and services in kind.

“It became not just a Rotary project, but a community project,” King said.

Asked whether it made sense to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade a facility that was built as an auditorium rather than a musical theatre, Gilchrist said that’s why she wants a consultant to make recommendations.

Other Rotarians pointed out that there could be provincial grant money available.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times