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The audience shuffles to its feet. Enthusiastic voices, occasionally off-key, deliver the National Anthem. There's a little more shuffling and program rustling while 500 people sink into the comfort of their plush-covered seats. Then, as the lights dim and the theatre's crest above the stage glows in the darkness, there is a moment of silence. The heavy, red velvet curtains are drawn back slowly to reveal the deep stage. There is a collective intake of breath and the traditional sprinkling of handclapping in appreciation of the elaborate set. A moment's pause and the play begins.
Is this a description of the first moments at the Drury Lane Theatre in London's West End? Or are we on Broadway? Could we be at the Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake? Or is this a memory of a past era? None of the above. This is a typical play opening at Ottawa Little Theatre today.
But Ottawa Little Theatre is certainly not typical of amateur theatre. The oldest community theatre in the country, it has survived two fires, two world wars, the explosion of assorted electronic equipment in various formats, and the opening of the National Arts Centre a few blocks away. With a devoted following and annual season ticket sales in the 9,000 range, it has been operating successfully for 82 years. It is one of the very few theatres -- amateur or professional -- to have clear title to its own building, and it has reached this enviable position without ever having received a government subsidy.
There is no theatre exactly like Ottawa Little Theatre anywhere else in the country. And there is no way that a duplicate could have developed anywhere else. Only in Ottawa do you have the convergence of population, circumstance and tradition that both gave Ottawa Little Theatre the opportunity to grow and flourish and held it back from transmuting into a professional regional theatre -- as many community theatres in other parts of the country have done.
An established and establishment theatre in an establishment town, Ottawa Little Theatre has always been clear about what it is, who its audiences are and just what it is trying to accomplish. OLT maintains the atmosphere of its genteel origins as a Society for the Study...