FINAL CURTAIN
“For the last couple of years we’ve been talking about an endgame, and this is it,” said Theatre Alive president Florence Raisbeck as she and her husband Brian have staged plays in Windsor for 28 years.
After 28 years entertaining Windsor, Theatre Alive’s Brian and Florence Raisbeck are calling it quits.
The musical theatre company’s 39th and final show was October’s Les Miserables. Plans to stage Young Frankenstein next spring have been scrapped.
“You can only do it for so long,” said company president Florence Raisbeck. “For the last couple of years we’ve been talking about an endgame, and this is it.”
Brian Raisbeck directed every one of Theatre Alive’s shows since the company launched in 1987 with Man of La Mancha.
“We don’t have a life outside the group,” he said. “We want to be able to spend winters down south or visit our kids in Toronto whenever we want rather than squeezing them between rehearsals.”
The Raisbecks announced their decision Thursday at a members’ meeting. They told the board of directors in lateOctober after Les Miz closed.
“It’s a lot of responsibility running a company like this,” said Florence. “It isn’t like you take your toys out the backyard to play.”
The company will sell off costumes, sets, stage equipment and office furniture, and has given notice to end its lease on a south Windsor rehearsal space.
“We got like 8,000 square feet of stuff to get rid of,” said Brian. The hope is schools or amateur theatre groups will purchase most of it.
“We’ll be making an announcement about that soon,” Florence said.
She added that the dozens of volunteers who have worked behind the scenes were relieved by the move.
“I think even our volunteers were tired out,” she said. “Hats off to them. It was their effort that kept us going this long.”
The final decision was made in the wake of three straight productions in the last year — Beyond The Moon in December 2012, Pippin last spring and Les Miz.
Revenue has been declining in recent years, although Les Miz sold well. Costs of staging shows, such as rights and theatre rentals, are also steadily increasing, said Florence.
“That has added to the stress,” she said.
Theatre Alive enjoyed a number of successes over its 28-year history, including staging such original musicals as Birth of the City and A Christmas to Remember: Windsor 1959.
As the chief rival to Windsor Light Music Theatre, Theatre Alive also brought several major Broadway hits to the Windsor stage. Among them over the years were The Who’s Tommy, Big River, Chicago, Les Miserables, and Elton John’s Aida.