The Executive Director of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra (KSO) isn’t surprised that Sagebrush Theatre will be offline until at least September.
Kathy Humphreys says they were not expecting to return until at least the fall.
She noted they decided to move all their upcoming performances to Oasis Church about two weeks ago.
“Because of the uncertainty and difficulty of notifying all of our audience members that either we’re here or we’re there, we’re not sure,” she said.
“You know that’s really hard to manage and we’re just spending our time now making sure that we create as great an experience as we can.”
Humphreys adds they have three more performances to go this season, two in April and one in May.
KSO doesn’t have estimates yet on how much their losses will be because of the move, but Humphreys admitted there are still lots of unexpected costs.
“We discovered that we have to bring in lightning for the musicians to read music,” she added. “We had to rent trucks and haul equipment that is usually handy right at Sagebrush Theatre.”
“We had to rent a crew to help set up the stage, and a whole bunch of arranging to do so it’s taking lots and lots of staff time and additional expenses.”
She noted that because Oasis Church seats about 700 people, just like Sagebrush Theatre, if they sell out, the loss of revenue on ticket sales won’t be as much.