History of the Elgin Theatre Guild
The Elgin Theatre Guild first raised the curtain in 1967, with its presentation of "The Boy Friend". Rehearsals were held in the Director's basement and the show was performed at a local high school. From these humble beginnings, the ETG started on its adventure to provide and promote live theatre in St. Thomas and Elgin County.
In 1968, the ETG signed the incorporation papers as a non-profit organization allowing the Guild to write tax refundable receipts to its supporters.
The first three shows were rehearsed in members' homes and the shows were performed at Arthur Voaden Secondary School for the next fourteen seasons.
With the profits from the first three shows and donations from supporters, the ETG started renting rehearsal space on Talbot Street in St. Thomas. This space was the size of an 800 square foot one bedroom apartment. The main room was used for rehearsals and set construction. The middle room was storage space for flats, props and paints and the kitchen, minus the appliances, was costume storage.
Looking back, I wonder how we managed to work is such confining a space.
During the first few years of the ETG, the organization ran with a core membership of fifteen to twenty active members. Of the original members, Bob Allen is still actively supporting the organization 33 seasons later. Other notable founding members Pat Cattel and Dave Fisher still make appearances from time to time after all these years when appropriate projects are available.
The ETG has always believed in giving back to the community, whenever the opportunity arose. Loans of costumes for church or school productions, participating in centennial celebrations anywhere in the county, plus community parades, Fantasy of Lights, face painting, Murders Mystery dinners, Henry the VIII dinners.
1981 was the 100th birthday for St. Thomas. The ETG wrote and performed a show titled "Generations" which celebrated the formation of the city of St. Thomas and its founding fathers. The show was unfortunately a bust and placed the organization at the brink of bankruptcy. The membership dropped to twelve committed people who made a two-year agreement to clear all debts owed to the ETG's creditors. By changing the way that the organization did business, all debts were cleared by October 1982. The ETG still uses the same business skills learned at that time to run the organization eighteen years later.
All fund raising activities continued from 1982 up to 1986, at which time the organization purchased its first property on Forest Ave. This became the new home for the ETG.
With a strong Board of Directors and a solid talent base, the group grew by leaps and bounds at all projects that were asked of it. The group took on many extra projects over and above the regular planned season. Murder Mystery dinners, Henry the VIII dinners, International Plowing Match, school visitations, our first childrens' acting workshops. During this time period, the ETG started to use the workshop grants available from Theatre Ontario for the adult workshops.
In 1987, select members of the Board investigated the possibility of purchasing another property on Princess Avenue. With the money the group had in the bank and a matching grant from Wintario, the offer was accepted by the church elders and the ETG was on the move again. The next season was the first season that the group went dark while the renovations took place.
A lot of cash and volunteer labour and even more love had the conversion from a church to a theatre completed in record time. The first show in the Princess Ave Playhouse was "Agnes of God" which allowed the group to use the stained glass windows and the pleasant ambience of the theatre to its advantage.
Over the past twelve years, the ETG has started to participate in the WODL drama festivals. We are pleased with the results having won some awards in acting, directing and technical areas of the competition. But we are most proud of the efforts of the membership to allow these competitions to be a learning experience.
The growth the ETG has experienced has been the same as any other group. We started by performing small-scale musicals and British farce and mysteries. We then looked to U.S. authors for a change of material. In 1986, we noticed that the quality of work from Canadian authors had improved dramatically. It then became policy that 50% of the ETG's season would be Canadian content: a policy that has served the group well.
The ETG has completed its thirty-seventh season and has experienced the same growing pains as any other theatre group. As we enter our thirty-eighth season we are looking for bigger and better things for the membership and supporters of the ETG.
In 1968, the ETG signed the incorporation papers as a non-profit organization allowing the Guild to write tax refundable receipts to its supporters.
The first three shows were rehearsed in members' homes and the shows were performed at Arthur Voaden Secondary School for the next fourteen seasons.
With the profits from the first three shows and donations from supporters, the ETG started renting rehearsal space on Talbot Street in St. Thomas. This space was the size of an 800 square foot one bedroom apartment. The main room was used for rehearsals and set construction. The middle room was storage space for flats, props and paints and the kitchen, minus the appliances, was costume storage.
Looking back, I wonder how we managed to work is such confining a space.
During the first few years of the ETG, the organization ran with a core membership of fifteen to twenty active members. Of the original members, Bob Allen is still actively supporting the organization 33 seasons later. Other notable founding members Pat Cattel and Dave Fisher still make appearances from time to time after all these years when appropriate projects are available.
The ETG has always believed in giving back to the community, whenever the opportunity arose. Loans of costumes for church or school productions, participating in centennial celebrations anywhere in the county, plus community parades, Fantasy of Lights, face painting, Murders Mystery dinners, Henry the VIII dinners.
1981 was the 100th birthday for St. Thomas. The ETG wrote and performed a show titled "Generations" which celebrated the formation of the city of St. Thomas and its founding fathers. The show was unfortunately a bust and placed the organization at the brink of bankruptcy. The membership dropped to twelve committed people who made a two-year agreement to clear all debts owed to the ETG's creditors. By changing the way that the organization did business, all debts were cleared by October 1982. The ETG still uses the same business skills learned at that time to run the organization eighteen years later.
All fund raising activities continued from 1982 up to 1986, at which time the organization purchased its first property on Forest Ave. This became the new home for the ETG.
With a strong Board of Directors and a solid talent base, the group grew by leaps and bounds at all projects that were asked of it. The group took on many extra projects over and above the regular planned season. Murder Mystery dinners, Henry the VIII dinners, International Plowing Match, school visitations, our first childrens' acting workshops. During this time period, the ETG started to use the workshop grants available from Theatre Ontario for the adult workshops.
In 1987, select members of the Board investigated the possibility of purchasing another property on Princess Avenue. With the money the group had in the bank and a matching grant from Wintario, the offer was accepted by the church elders and the ETG was on the move again. The next season was the first season that the group went dark while the renovations took place.
A lot of cash and volunteer labour and even more love had the conversion from a church to a theatre completed in record time. The first show in the Princess Ave Playhouse was "Agnes of God" which allowed the group to use the stained glass windows and the pleasant ambience of the theatre to its advantage.
Over the past twelve years, the ETG has started to participate in the WODL drama festivals. We are pleased with the results having won some awards in acting, directing and technical areas of the competition. But we are most proud of the efforts of the membership to allow these competitions to be a learning experience.
The growth the ETG has experienced has been the same as any other group. We started by performing small-scale musicals and British farce and mysteries. We then looked to U.S. authors for a change of material. In 1986, we noticed that the quality of work from Canadian authors had improved dramatically. It then became policy that 50% of the ETG's season would be Canadian content: a policy that has served the group well.
The ETG has completed its thirty-seventh season and has experienced the same growing pains as any other theatre group. As we enter our thirty-eighth season we are looking for bigger and better things for the membership and supporters of the ETG.
