Puppeteers lose venue to deluge
Calgary company not only group hurt by eviction
Calgary — The Green Fools saved their light and sound equipment, their puppets and stilts, but lost their theatre.
That’s because the longtime Calgary puppet theatre company woke up Saturday morning with a theatre that contained five feet of water in the basement, blowing a big, wet hole in their summer plans.
Not only was much of the company’s gear underwater, but the flood came with a double whammy: instant eviction.
“The landlord said, ‘Oh you’ve had a good run,’ ” said Green Fool co-artistic director Dean Bareham. “‘When can you get out? You’re done.’ ”
The company had been operating out of an old church space across Macleod Trail from the Stampede grounds for five years, much of which was spent with eviction hanging over their heads — the space was designated for redevelopment when they moved in — but they’d always managed to eke out a little longer tenure than originally planned.
During that time, it became not only a home base for the busy puppet company, but also a go-to rehearsal space for many of the city’s leading independent theatre companies, who benefited from the Green Fools’s dirt cheap (as little as $10/hour) rehearsal rates.
It might have looked like an old church that had seen better days, but inside, it was every bit as much of an arts incubator as the fanciest performing arts centres in town.
“It was a great workshop space,” artistic director Jennie Esdale said. “(It had) a really great upstairs, with wood beams. Aerialists would come there. It had big windows, and was right on the C Train line.”
The flood of 2013 changed all that. With water pouring into the basement, the structure quickly reached a point where it would need significant expenditures to make it viable.
“The thing about the landlord is, I understand their point of view,” Bareham said. “They don’t want to spend any money on these places, because they’re all derelict and will come down eventually.”
The combination of instant eviction and flood wipeout was economically and emotionally devastating for the puppet company. Bareham estimated that he had lost $20,000 worth of equipment and tools to the floodwater, along with sketchbooks that contain two decades’ worth of puppet design, including the company’s most recent show, Elephant Song.
The flood has also disrupted a bunch of booked gigs, such as Canada Day celebrations and the Eddies, which Bareham estimated to be worth more than $10,000 to them. Being evicted will also cost the company the opportunity to run a Stampede parking lot, a potent fundraiser for the company that raises as much as $12,000 a year.
The button on top of it all? Bareham was planning to get married this summer (to Green Fools administrator Shelley Carroll) in the space.
“We’re postponing until next year,” Carroll said. “It’s too stressful. I can’t imagine trying to find a venue, continue planning and then recoup our life.”
Esdale expressed gratitude to the Calgary arts community, which has reached out to offer the Fools short-term homes.
“We’ve had really incredible volunteer support,” she says.
“In the short term, it’s looking as good as it can, in terms of manpower and support,” Esdale says. “Quest Theatre are taking us in temporarily and giving us office space, which is great, because this is a busy time of year for us.”
While Quest provides a short-term fix, there is no long-term solution on the horizon for the company, which has been searching unsuccessfully for a permanent home that fits the economic parameters of a non-profit arts group, which can’t compete in a hot, costly Calgary real estate market.
For a few members of the Calgary arts community who dropped by to volunteer Tuesday afternoon, the loss of the Green Fools Theatre struck home.
“It puts more pressure on all the groups in the city that use the space,” said playwright and improv comic A.J. Demers. “It’s going to be a really big challenge. There will be less art coming out of these spaces, and I think there will be a cultural lag for the next six to eight months coming out of these spaces.”