What is a son of Newfoundland doing buying a theatre in Toronto?
This all started in 2018, when Walter Schroeder a Canadian philanthropist who loves supporting Newfoundland artists and I formed our theatre company, Terra Bruce. My band Great Big Sea hadn't been active for a few years, so my plan was to run the company in St. John's since there's so much talent there. But we realized early on that, to do the kinds of shows we wanted to do, we needed a presence in Toronto. So we bought the Regent in early 2022.
Toronto has a lot of beautiful old theatres. Why the Regent?
That was just fortuity. In recent years, the Regent had become a down-at-the-heels venue. Covid crushed any shot at business, so the owners were ready to sell. It's a perfect mid-size theatre, which is rare in Canada these days-venues are either big 2,000-seaters or little boxes. The bones of the building are so beautiful. And it will be a short walk from the subway once the Crosstown is done.
A finished transit project? You're clearly not from Toronto.
Well, theatre is fuelled by optimism, and we have some time until the Regent is ready anyhow.
Given the past few years, why are you so optimistic about live theatre?
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Toronto Life.
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Booksmart
I dropped out of high school because of a learning disability and depression. Public libraries saved my life
Top Shelf
Four drool-worthy home libraries
The Giver
Media mogul Gary Slaight donates a lot of money$15 million to this, $30 million to that-and he's not above shaming his wealthy friends into doing the same
TRAIN WRECK
Toronto residents in the path of Ontario Line construction are living in a bone-rattling, foundation-cracking, rat-infested hellscape. True tales from the epicentre
TURF WAR
For 148 years, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club was an ivy-covered bastion of civility with a roster of like-minded, blue-blooded members. Then an old-money-versus-new-money clash erupted
The Cult of Wellness
A growing cohort of Torontonians are swapping the coke-fuelled, booze-soaked club scene for cold plunges, sobriety and superfood smoothies
CLOSE TO HOME
A new inpatient mental health unit for children and youth will provide community-level support at Oak Valley Health's Markham Stouffville Hospital.
Scatter Brain - Maybe it sounds glib to suggest that a complex neurodevelopmental disorder is having a moment, but if you haven't noticed that ADHD is everywhere these days, you haven't been, well, paying attention
Five years ago, hardly anyone was talking about adult ADHD. Now it's all over social media, and self-diagnosis is rampant. How a complex neurological condition became the new superpower
Marital Arts
Three Toronto couples who celebrated their nuptials in spectacular fashion
Strings Attached
Country music's barrier-busting cowboy Orville Peck is tearing through 2024 with a new album, new collabs and a new outlook on life
