With the temporary closure at Sagebrush Theatre, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra is trying to find a temporary home.

Executive Director Kathy Humphreys says they’ve got unique challenges, and there isn’t a single venue that best meets all of their needs.

“For symphony orchestras, we have about 50 people on the stage with their equipment and all of that,” she said. “You need a really big space for the performers just to start out with.”

“Then, of course, our audiences are typically in the neighbourhood of 600 people.”

Humphreys says she doesn’t want any performances to be cancelled, and that the show will go on, adding they’re looking at a number of venues, including churches.

“In some cases, we might have to put on more than one performance rather than the one that was originally planned,” she noted. “We might have to change some dates if there isn’t any place available on the dates that we had originally scheduled.”

“There’s going to be a lot of communication with our audience once we do figure it out to make sure everyone knows where they’re going to be going and where it is, and how to get there and where to park.

In the immediate future, they’ve got performances on March 8 and 9, but a longer term solution may be needed depending on how long the repairs at Sagebrush Theatre takes.

In May, KSO is expecting about 150 people to take the stage for a performance.

“Probably the largest group of musicians that we’ve had all year, plus the audience,” Humphreys added. “I can’t think of a stage – even the Sagebrush stage is a squeeze, and we have to be creative on how to do that.”

“Other venues in town, again it would be a real trick to find a place where that’s going to work in.”

Single ticket sales for all orchestra performances will be temporarily suspended until the new venue is found. Tickets for the two remaining chamber music concerts are unaffected since these performances take place in The Rex Hall.

If people have questions, they should call KSO office at 250-372-5000 and not the Kamloops Live! Box Office.

 

(Photo via Kamloops Symphony Orchestra)