Entrepreneurs looking for money to restore historic theatres working across the Prairies

Aaron Sousa · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 04, 2025 3:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Not a time goes by that David Stupnikoff doesn't deliberation astir the Princess Theatre.

"I thrust by it regularly, and I've had different friends and radical that person visited, and they person specified large memories of it," said Stupnikoff, a courier work proprietor and amusement promoter. "People privation it would travel back."

Juxtaposed betwixt 2 brownstones successful Edmonton's historical Old Strathcona district, it is 1 of a fistful of aboriginal theatres inactive lasting successful Alberta. Opening successful 1915, it promised "high people moving pictures" and "high class" vaudeville performances.

Until 1940, it was the lone movie location successful southbound Edmonton. For a little play successful the 1970s, it showed erotic movies. The theatre shuttered successful 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has sat vacant since.

"It's benignant of a shame that it conscionable sits determination empty," Stupnikoff said.

After immoderate brainstorming, helium decided to spearhead efforts to bring the playhouse backmost to its erstwhile glory, little truthful for movies but much for performers and the wide nationalist to bash a small spot of everything.

But astatine 110 years old, the Princess has seen amended days: There's asbestos throughout, the plumbing needs to beryllium redone, the 3rd level is successful shambles. Stupnikoff said contractors estimation it would outgo $2.5 cardinal conscionable to hole it for renovations.

"Fiscally, it's a unspeakable endeavour."

So wherefore instrumentality connected the project?

"I benignant of don't know," Stupnikoff joked. "I'd similar to beryllium capable to … brighten up Whyte Avenue, adjacent a small bit."

He's started a GoFundMe with a whopping extremity of $9.2 million. It apt won't beryllium met with nationalist dollars, Stupnikoff said, but backstage donors person shown interest. Worse comes to worst, helium said the wealth volition beryllium donated to the Stollery Children's Hospital.

"I bash spot this being a palmy endeavour," Stupnikoff said.

Restoring longstanding theatres is nary casual task, and Stupnikoff isn't the lone 1 looking to rise the curtain.

Michael Redhead Champagne is looking to respire caller beingness into the Palace Theatre successful northbound Winnipeg. Built successful 1912, it's been a vaudeville house, a movie theatre, a flea marketplace and adjacent a furnishings warehouse. It has stood bare since the precocious 1990s.

Redhead Champagne said it was astir 5 years agone that residents began expressing a tendency for an arts and civilization hub tailored to the North End.

Many Indigenous-led gathering places successful Winnipeg person closed successful caller years, helium said, truthful helium wants to supply abstraction for First Nations artists and others to create.

"We person a North End tone present that is unsocial and circumstantial to the experiences that we person had due to the fact that of social, cultural, economic, racial, geographic challenges," helium said.

"Venues similar the aboriginal Palace Theatre are going to supply abstraction and accidental for those artists to stock their stories successful their way."

Redhead Champagne said his radical is starting to solicit backstage donations for the project. It volition besides commencement hosting assemblage events erstwhile the building's ownership is transferred from the University of Manitoba to a community-based entity.

But erstwhile the theatre opens, it volition request to beryllium acceptable for unexpected repairs — a conflict Jocelyn Dougherty knows well.

She and her husband, Alan, person owned the Orpheum Theatre successful Estevan, Sask., southeast of Regina, since 1998. The erstwhile vaudeville location opened successful 1914 and is 1 of the longest moving independently owned theatres successful Canada.

Live shows person hosted the likes of Kenny Shields, Randy Bachman and adjacent Johnny Reid. But a downtown revitalization task brought operations to a grinding halt past summer.

"The full thoroughfare successful beforehand of the theatre had been dug out," Dougherty said. "Heavy rains deed 1 nighttime and the theatre flooded with sewer water. It was fundamentally an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

"It was a existent mess."

Dougherty said the restoration has been a existent stroke to the theatre's finances. After months of being closed, she sees the extremity successful sight. Restoration companies person worked time aft time to bring the theatre up to snuff. It's expected to reopen sometime this month.

She said the city's residents are eager. Aside from the Orpheum, the nearest theatres are 2 hours distant successful Regina and North Dakota.

On apical of entertainment, having a theatre is important for its humanities and sentimental value, she said. One idiosyncratic told her astir having their archetypal day astatine the theatre. Another mentioned getting to spot The Ink Spots, an American vocal group, there.

"It's conscionable important to have," she said. "People travel backmost to sojourn and they inactive spot the theatre inactive up and going, and that it's thing they privation to revisit again to bring backmost large puerility memories."