After a summer of uncertainty over the fate of the Gladstone Theatre, its sale is due to conclude by Oct. 31 but it will remain a cultural centre for at least another three years.
Owner Steve Martin put the small theatre, located at 910 Gladstone Ave., up for sale this summer. The Properties Group Ltd., an Ottawa-based real estate investment firm, is buying the building through partner Brian Lahey.
Local theatre company Plosive Productions has been leasing the space for the past few years and renting it out to other companies for performances. With the sale due to conclude at the end of October, Plosive has signed a three-year lease that will see the venue continue to be used as a centre for the arts into 2018.
“People are really happy to see it staying open,” says Teri Loretto, co-founder of Plosive Productions. She says it’s both a relief and a great joy to see their lease continue.
In this year’s theatre season alone, Loretto explains that at least 15 shows are currently scheduled that might not have otherwise found a home. Part of what makes Plosive’s operation of the Gladstone so important for local theatre is the co-operation and independence it offers to artists.
“We don’t have to program within a certain mandate,” says Loretto., “in general, it just gives us so much more freedom.”
One major change that comes with the new lease is that it will now cover 365 days of the year, rather than the previous September to May theatre season. Loretto says Plosive hopes to add more diverse programming, such as late night music performances or arts camps in the summer.
“We’re looking at expanding the value of the Gladstone in the community at large.”
Though the current lease only covers the next three years, Loretto is confident that Lahey plans to keep the Gladstone as a centre for the arts in Little Italy after the building passes into his hands.
As she puts it, the security from the sale will allow for “more growing pains rather than birth pains” for Ottawa’s local theatre scene.