Renovations at the historic Academy Theatre in Lindsay are almost complete, just in time for the venue’s 125th anniversary year.
New seating on the main floor has now been installed. Other renovations include new carpeting, sound booth, floor-level lighting, and a new main floor accessible washroom.
The new seats are larger and more comfortable, replacing most of the original seats from the 1930s (because of the configuration of the balcony, the original seats will remain there). Some of the new seats will be removable to accommodate wheelchairs.
While the new seats maintain the look of the older seats with red upholstery, dark wood, and curved backs, because they are larger there will be about 60 fewer seats in total.
The total cost for the renovations is $340,000, with $110,000 contributed by the federal government through the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program.
A sold-out concert by country musician Brett Kissel on Tuesday, February 13th is the debut event in the newly renovated venue. Other upcoming events include Beautiful Dreamers, a 125th anniversary celebration of the theatre, on February 24th and 25th, as well as AbbaMania and Night Fever on March 3rd and the sold-out Blue Rodeo concert on March 22nd.
The Academy Theatre was built in the spring of 1892. Designed by architect W. Blackwell of Peterborough, the theatre opened in 1893 with seating for 900 people.
Silent film star Marie Dressler made her first stage appearance at the Academy Theatre at the age of five, in an amateur play organized by her mother. As part of the vaudeville circuit in the early 1900s, the Academy also hosted a young Sammy Davis Jr. and the Marx Brothers. Around 1918, the theatre began to screen silent movies and added talking films in 1923.
By 1953, the Academy was in financial trouble, with competition from the new movie theatre The Century Theatre in Lindsay. Over the next decade, it frequently closed and was eventually put up for sale.
In 1962, the building was slated for demolition, but a group of Lindsay citizens incorporated the Academy Theatre Foundation to purchase the building in 1963 and restore it as a live theatre venue. The three original coal-fired furnaces that heated the building were replaced, and the lobby, office space, and stage were renovated.
As with Showplace and the Market Hall in Peterborough, the Academy Theatre is operated as a non-profit organization that relies on rental income and community donations for its operation.
For more information and for tickets to upcoming events, visit www.academytheatre.ca.
