The curtain closes on the 2015 season and 25th anniversary of the Souris Valley Theatre. It has seen significant growth, has been host to an assortment of popular performances, and put on a camp that’s cultivated the acting skills of future generations of young actors and a lot of happy fans.
“This year was definitely a success. Our numbers have gone up and our audience has expanded. It was the busiest season we’ve had for a while,” said Breanne Van De Woestyne, summer marketing coordinator with the theatre. “We’re really excited about this year’s outcome.”
Average overall attendance for performances over the summer has increased by almost 40 per cent, with about 2,500 people attending performances over the course of the season. Van De Woestyne attributes the theatre’s popularity to the two main stage shows, Spelling Bee and Dry Streak, and to the single night productions like Speak Easy, Snowbirds and Summer’s End.
An important feature of this season that allowed for the variety of performances carried out was the manner by which the shows were scheduled. Shows were given shorter runs this season, with two main stage shows this summer having the usual three-week runs cut down to 10 days. This schedule adjustment allowed for more performances to run this season.
“Shorter show runs definitely pay off. We were able to bring other touring shows in because of that,” said Van De Woestyne. “We may not have been able to host more touring shows, if we had the longer show runs. It was basically done to offer more and have more variety to bring people out.”
When asked what the most popular shows were this season, Van De Woestyne didn’t skip a beat: “In the case of our main stage shows, Spelling Bee was the most popular (of the main stage shows). It was popular because it brought a lot of younger audiences and families.”
Van De Woestyne said the most popular show this season overall, was Speak Easy. The Prohibition-era musical that featured the talents of Kaitlyn and Jack Semple nearly sold out Frehlick Hall.
“It was our largest crowd since before the flood in 2011,” said Van De Woestyne. “We had a lot of great reviews about it afterward, as well.”
A trend Van De Woestyne noticed this season was an increase in tourist attendance, with audiences made up of a growing number of people from outside the Energy City.
“There are people from all over the province, and outside the province showing up. We have the usual audience typically from Estevan, but also had a lot from the small communities outside of Estevan too,” said Van De Woestyne. “Even people from Manitoba took the drive in, just to come see a show for the day. It’s definitely expanding further than our little community.”
Moving forward, Van De Woestyne says the board plans to build on this year’s success, continuing with shorter play runs and adding more touring shows to the theatre’s schedule. While nothing is set in stone yet, she says the board is excited about what it’s planning.
An important feature of the 2015 season, Van De Woestyne noted, is that it patterned after 2014 in many ways.
“We had a good season then, and tried new things. We carried a lot of the success from that year into 2015, and polished it up a bit.” said Van De Woestyne. “Our goal for the last couple of years has been to grow the audience and bring more people in every year. I think we’re becoming more known around the community.”
