The “disrepair” of the Nancy Appleby Theatre was the main topic of discussion during the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society's (ARMS) public meeting March 13.
The “disrepair” of the Nancy Appleby Theatre was the main topic of discussion during the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society's (ARMS) public meeting March 13.
The discussion was brought forward to the meeting after a number of issues were reported following a Feb. 25 event was held in the theatre.
The issues included no tissue paper in the women's washroom, icy conditions on the sidewalk, fire code violations, no Multiplex staff manager on site during the function and the change room being in disrepair.
Multiplex manager Dustin Pysyk explained to the society that during a sold-out Feb. 25 event, there was no theatre manager present overseeing some of the basic operations which lead to the issues like the icy sidewalk, the lack of tissue paper and the crowd over-exceeding the theatre's capacity of 280 people.
“Those all solve itself when you have a theatre attendant at the event,” Pysyk said during the meeting.
ARMS board member and Town of Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill addressed the issue of the unsafe conditions of the theatre's change room, noting he heard Feb. 27 there were exposed light sockets on the make-up mirrors.
“I don't understand why a change room would not be safe, number one, and functioning, number two,” Morrill said. “That did not occur just an hour before the function would have started. The way it was described to me, it looks like this has been something that's been an ongoing situation.”
Pysyk said that one of the reasons why the make up lights' sockets were exposed is because some of the dressing room attendants would remove them because of the heat they would produce.
“That sometimes happens, but that doesn't levitate us from making sure that the fixtures are in place to begin with,” he said.
In a separate interview, Pysyk said he had booked an electrician prior to the ARMS meeting to look over the lighting units within the theatre's primarily the dressing room with the exposed filaments March 14. Pysyk said the electrician also took an inventory of out-of-date lighting systems.
“We were fixing to what was potential to be a safety concerns,” he said. “He also made a list of lighting fixtures that don't exist anymore and what ballast needs replaced.”
During the ARMS meeting, Pysyk suggested that all board members tour the theatre to see its state “first hand,” and the tour will give ARMS a better understanding of the modernization projects the Multiplex administration would bring forward.
Some of these projects would include eco-friendly lighting and roof repair.
“My suggestion would be that we do it – have something outlined, give us time to outline it for the new council coming in the fall so they can hit the ground running,” Pysyk said during the meeting.
“Basically, there's been (really) no renovations done to this place since the 80s,” said ARMS board member Shelly Gurba. “Everything else we looked at said we got to keep up-to-date and we need to look at changing things and making things more modernized.”
No date has been set for the tour, and Athabasca County representatives unable to attend during the week. Pysyk said they will have a tour before ARMS' next meeting April 10.
“If we have a place that's in (disrepair) and unsafe conditions they have to be taken care of immediately. I don't think they even have to come back to this council for any manner,” Morrill said during the meeting. “But if it takes a tour for this group I'm all for it, and I'm all for it yesterday.”
