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CBC
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Centre in the Square's executive director talks about efforts to rejuvenate performing arts space
Social Sharing It's been just over a year since Eric Lariviere became executive director of Kitchener's Centre in the Square. He started in the role just months after the city owned performing arts space's calendar was left with large holes due to the bankruptcy of the K-W Symphony. But he had a goal to help revitalize and rejuvenate the iconic space. Lariviere joined CBC K-W's Craig Norris, host of The Morning Edition, to talk about the direction of the city-owned space. Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Craig Norris: Last time we spoke, Centre in the Square was getting set to open the Studio Theatre to different community groups. Let's start there. How's that been going? Eric Lariviere: Yeah, this has been a good initiative. This is part of one of our priorities that we established for 2024 and reopening the studio was one of the big goals of the community engagement strategy. We created this platform called Kitchener Creates to make sure that we could have that space that really can do a lot of things with about 200 people or less depending on the configuration. And then that led to multiple activities. We're going to have the full season of the theatre creation company Pat the Dog. We had the great comedy dinner theatre show Faulty Towers, which really animated the studio for over eight performances. We're talking to Empty Space, the other great company that we have in town, and there's other news coming this year for next season. So I think it's on the right trajectory. At the end of the day, another priority is to build capacity, and as we build that capacity we're going to be able to do more partnerships and invest more in that space. I believe this space is going to be very busy. You'll see more coming for next season. So we're happy with the results so far. Norris: You also did some pretty major renovations in the main auditorium. What have you been hearing feedback-wise from the community on those changes? Lariviere: I think it's been very positive. The new accessibility space, those that need that space, for instance, they really have a different experience because now they're facing the stage. So it's been more and more uptick on that and good comments as far as the new seats, a lot of good comments. Also, you get more space and it's comfy of course, they're brand new. My predecessor did the job on that one, but it's been quite well received. Norris: When the symphony filed for bankruptcy, it left a lot of dates empty at Centre in the Square. How were you able to bounce back from? Lariviere: I think the team's done a good job in bouncing back because when you looked at the symphony's activity in 2023, I think 2022 we had about 92 events total. So if you take out the symphony, it was about 66 and we ended up at 112. So it's over 70 per cent increase. I think it went well. We established some priorities. Basically, we had four major strategic pillars: We had the destination, we had community engagement, capacity building and branding. So when you look at the destination, basically the goal was to increase and strengthen our position as a best in class destination for live experiences and to do so, of course, we worked with our current clients and we expanded. We had a business plan that expanded vertically and horizontally for our business, our commercial business and other business. As far as our programs, we expanded on diversity and variety of programs. So we work with promoters that for instance, bring, for example, Samay Raina from India, who is a huge, very popular comedian and we sold out two shows. We brought, you know, Fadu Diva Mariza … And these were good experiences and as you do those experiences, of course, some will work well, some will work OK and that's part of the plan of investing and growing. Norris: So the bankruptcy for the symphony has been annulled. Do you foresee Centre in the Square having the symphony back in the coming season? Lariviere: Well, I think the symphony has done an amazing job in coming back. Really the musicians, the board, Bill Poole the chair of the board, and the group of musicians that have worked incredibly hard. They had a good season in the community and the church. I was at a concert last week. It was a sold out concert there. One of the first things I did when I came, I reached out to them and we started a dialogue and I think I'm quite optimistic in seeing the orchestra back at the Centre in the Square in some shape and form. I mean, it's a tough challenge for an orchestra because the funding is so critically important and then building the audience is another key factor. The way people, let's call it, consume their free time or their leisure has really drastically changed in the past years and with the pandemic, even more so. So at the end of the day, I think, as all of us in the live experiences business and industry, we have that challenge that we have to be really paying attention to. Norris: What are you personally most excited about as you enter into your second year at the helm of Centre in the Square? Lariviere: Same things I guess I was excited about a year ago. You have a jewel here. It's a great space. What it can do is just unbelievable. With more investments we can continue to grow in variety, diversity and work with the community - the community engagement is incredibly important. I think there's some projects that we're going to start announcing on May 29 and I think on the longer term, there's even more that really showcase how lucky this community is to be able to have that kind of infrastructure.
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
John Cleese reveals he 'took LSD aged 65' to know 'what is was all about' as he recalls 'terrifying' ten minutes
John Cleese has revealed that he 'took LSD aged 65' as he admitted that he wanted to know 'what is was all about'. The Faulty Towers star, 85, explained he was 'surprisingly ignorant' when he was younger and was never interested in taking drugs. But in 2005 he allegedly tried the powerful psychedelic drug, lysergic acid diethylamide, while under supervision. The drug is believed to 'alter a person's perception of reality and vividly distort the senses and is a fungus that grows on rye and other grains', according to CAMH. He told The Times' Weekend magazine: 'I just wanted to know what it was all about. 'The man was one of the world experts on it so I felt perfectly safe. 'I got scared for about 10 minutes in the middle, and he and his wife saw me through that, but it was extraordinary to realise how fertile the human mind is.' It comes after John admitted he agreed to the West End production of Fawlty Towers due to the financial security it would bring him. John wrote BBC Two's Fawlty Towers - which was broadcast from 1975 to 1979 for two seasons - with his ex-wife Connie Booth, 83. In a candid interview, the comedy legend revealed he agreed to do it, after refusing to do it for years, so that he no longer has to fly economy. He told The Times: 'But this is about getting myself a nest egg, so I can get a place in the sun. Because I have a problem with British weather. 'And if there's a crisis, you can throw money at it. That's the best thing about money. 'The next stage is to have enough not to have to fly commercial. I'm 6'4' and I find flying absolutely awful.' The comments come after it was announced last year that the actor is writing a new television show set in the Caribbean, which will see Basil's daughter who has worked in hotels all her life, embark on a new job and enlist the help of her father. He is also working on a musical and a non-musical version of Monty Python's Life of Brian, plus another comedy film about cannibalism. Faulty Towers is a 12-episode sitcom is based on a real-life hotel owner, Donald Sinclair, who ran the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay and the couple became fascinated with his incredibly rude behaviour. John was married to Connie, 83, from 1968 to 1978 after they both met on the comedy circuit while studying drama in New York. The couple co-wrote and starred opposite each other in both series of Fawlty Towers with Connie playing the chambermaid Polly Sherman - although they divorced before the second series was finished and aired. In 2020, the BBC removed an episode of Fawlty Towers from UKTV over 'racial slurs'. Titled The Germans, Cleese's hotelier upsets a German family with constant references to the Nazis. Despite the controversy, John confirmed the new West End production of the classic 1970s sitcom will include the scene in which a delusional Fawlty, suffering from a head injury, continually brings up the Second World War. It's been 50 years since the first show was first recorded at the BBC studios in December 1974.
