Where the past, present, and future meet

Tracy Sim, Times-Chronicle

Oliver’s Venables Theatre showcases modern architecture, beautiful mountain vistas, and a state-of-the-art performance space in its well-planned partnership with the community.

 

 

There’s a strange feeling one gets when you enter the theatre in Oliver. It’s a good strange with its west coast inspired wood timbers that extend up and over you, framing high glass walls.  The foyer feels like a designer Indigenous longhouse underneath its central skylight, transporting you into a realm of luxury. 

 

 

When you walk upstairs from the foyer, pause near the top and take a moment to appreciate the view of the local mountains perfectly spread through the panoramic windows.

Its otherworld look fits into the function, thought and design process at Venables Theatre. 

 

 

Walking across the upper hallway, looking across at the mountain views or down into the foyer, we had to remind ourselves that this is a playhouse.  

 

 

Entering the theatre’s technical booth, our focus shifts to the theatre layout and design where every detail has been planned from the beginning.

 

 

Many of the world’s best performance venues have met fire challenges, including this one. 

When fire struck Southern Okanagan Secondary School in September 2011, much of the school’s newly renovated spaces were destroyed, including the library, a classroom block, and the original 375-seat Frank Venables Auditorium, an art deco building dating to the late 1940s.The town rebuilt a brand-new 395-seat community venue under the same name. The new Venables Theatre is owned by School District 53, leased by the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, and operated in partnership by the school district, the Town of Oliver, the Regional District Okanagan South, and a non-profit theatre society.

 

 

While the exterior gives a slight nod to its art deco roots, the interior features wood glulam posts, beams, and columns, and solid wood decking. The theatre’s large lobby is a multi-use space highlighted by a domed skylight, hexagonal roof beams, curved staircase, and floor-to-ceiling views of the Okanagan Valley.

 

 

 

The theatre space itself employs equal amounts of art and science in its construction, a symbiotic relationship that succeeds in taking us to different times and places with the performers. 

 

 

No details were spared with several catwalks over the seating area and several layers for scenic changes and curtains in the stage area itself.

 

 

Acoustic consulting firm, BKL, was responsible for the sound engineering of the auditorium during the rebuilding phase, overseeing design and the installation of sound absorbing materials that ensure every performance is heard clearly by the audience.

 

 

From the stage, looking out, you get the performer’s view of their audience and appreciate the visual symmetry of Venables Theatre.

 

 

For the watching audience, their world is a stage.