Loons theatre finds new home
The Loons Theatre has found a new home in Lyttelton for the first time since the Canterbury earthquakes.
The theatre company will share a hall in the new Lyttelton Primary School, which is under construction on Oxford St in the port town and is scheduled to open in May next year.
The Loons were formerly based in Lyttelton Working Men’s Club on Dublin St, but had to move out when the building was damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes. The theatre company has an agreement with the Ministry of Education and the school to share the hall space in the new building.
The space will be a school hall in the day and a theatre and teaching venue by night called the Lyttelton Arts Factory, or LAF.
The approximately $315,000 cost of strengthening the hall to make it suitable for circus work and lighting rigs, fitting retractable seating and theatre equipment will be covered by The Loons. They have already raised about $100,000 in grants from the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal Trust and the Todd Foundation to cover the costs.
Theatre manager Darryl Cribb says they hoped to cover most of the remaining costs with a crowdfunding campaign.
Cribb says it was exciting to know they would soon have a new home.
‘‘It is very exciting to know that we can create work again once we have a new home. If you don’t have a home, you can’t build. From a theatrical point of view, you can’t create shows. If you don’t have a space where you can regularly work, you can’t do it.
‘‘New work will bring people back in, audiences and performers.’’
He said that former members of The Loons, who have moved overseas for work since the theatre closed, would be invited back.
‘‘This gives them a base to come back to and create work.’’
Lyttelton Primary School principal Diana Feary says it was important for children to be exposed to creative industries. Loons creative director Mike Friend has taught drama at the school and The Loons have run after-school drama classes.
‘‘Our children will have first hand experience of theatre,’’ Feary says..
‘‘That is an important thing for children to experience and see, how the arts come alive. Sports is such a big thing in New Zealand. It is everywhere . We are lucky in Lyttelton because we have a lot of artists so the children see that creative side.’’
The Loons had intended to return to the Working Men’s Club, which is being strengthened and restored, but could not agree over the terms of a new lease. Cribb would not go into detail about the disagreement, but says a professional mediator was appointed to help reach an agreement.
‘‘Our original intention was to go back to the Working Men’s Club. We worked with them after the quakes in support of funding applications. When the lease came up to be renewed, the lease we were offered was unworkable from our point of view.
‘‘We tried to make it work to the point where we had mediation, but the the club didn’t want to change their offer, so that meant it wasn’t going to work for us.’’
Working Men’s Club president Neville Walker declined to comment on the details of the disagreement.
‘‘I can’t say a word. It is between us and them,’’ Walker says.
He says it will take about six months work to complete the strengthening and restoration of the club building, but they needed to raise about $500,000 for that to happen.
A charitable trust formed to save the club building received a $250,000 donation from the Christchurch Earthquake Mayoral Relief Fund in 2012.
Cribb hopes the club building will be restored.
‘‘The Loons wishes the club well in rebuilding the theatre that the club received funding for, to deliver the outstanding arts and community facility . . . [that] The Loons envisaged in the planning.’’