Threatened with closure last spring, Hart House decided to integrate the formerly autonomous theatre into its cultural programming.

Hart House has a three-year time-frame to raise a 7 million dollar theatre endowment and a 1 million dollar capital improvement fund. This money will be needed to supplement box office revenues and support the theatre’s operating costs.

On Friday, November 9, 2001, the Hart House Theatre will be putting on “Been Staged @HartHouse Theatre: The Alum Gala.” The show is an ambitious fundraiser (produced by Canadian actor David Gardner) marking the start of the Hart House theatre campaign.

“[Hart House Theatre is the] cradle of Canadian theatre, as opposed to the touring theatre which was very much en vogue around the end of the First World War. Suddenly, here was a theatre devoted to Canadian community theatre,” said Gardner.

Since his time at Hart House, Gardner has been an actor for Stratford, the Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse, the Theatre Arts Officer for the Canadian Council for the Arts, and has chaired the committee that founded the National Theatre School. He also returned to the University of Toronto for an M.A. and a Ph.D in Canadian Theatre History.

Former students who were involved with the theatre include: Wayne & Shuster, Donald Sutherland, Kate Reid, Lorne Michaels, Dora Mavor Moore, and the Group of Seven, to name a few.

In the spring of 2000, a decision came from Simcoe Hall to stop the subsidy and consider closing the theatre.

An uproar ensued and the university agreed to continue the subsidy for the next three years.

At the end of that time the theatre is expected to have obtained the $8-million necessary for its survival.

“Been Staged” hopes to raise $500,000. The line-up includes performances from Dave Broadfoot, Dinah Christie, Don Harron, Hal Jackman, Bob Rae, the UC Follies, the Human Dance Collective, and many others.

For ticket information call the box office at (416) 978-8668. Information on the fundraising campaign can be obtained from Christine Campbell at [email protected].