A REWIND ON 2020 ~
JANUARY
Our typical slowest month during which we usually endeavor to do facility management and upkeep,
saw us holding bustling Musical Theatre Classes for our community’s youth! We also saw much construction and painting done in our beautiful theatre and gallery spaces in order to look our best for the events ahead!
FEBRUARY
We held a grand banquet evening to raise money for Southern Kings & Queens Montague Food Bank and Canadian Grains. An evening full of art, live music, sumptuous food, and generosity. A huge thank you to our events organizers, our incredible hard-working staff and volunteers, and to you our lovely guests!
Thrive– Embracing Our Power, is a project near and dear to our hearts. With a focus on the uplifting of women with disabilities, and on placing an importance on their unique perspectives and stories, we created and led collaborative art workshops for our wonderful participants.
MARCH
In March, as we held meetings with our team and board members to excitedly and meticulously plan the season’s launch- the unthinkable happened to us all. A pause. With our community’s needs and the theatre’s long history of tenacity in mind, we began the difficult journey of adapting and evolving to new circumstance.
Performing Arts give us a way to bring something of ourselves and our aspirations to the world, to learn about ourselves and of people different to us, and perhaps most importantly in the current times- to imagine something new together. These possibilities which only creative workshopping and live performance can bring, will be more than advantageous as we return from a global event that shut us in isolation for months. Theatre proves that connection, imagination, and passion are transferable in a live setting- a kind of contagion good for the soul. But in this year of darkened stages and out-of-work professionals- such aspirations began to be seen as frivolous instead of world-changing. High-energy creative thinking which only theatre can supply, as well as the creation of something honest and beautiful will be vital in helping our communities create the deserved narrative they want to live in.
And so we urge you please to start, to continue, or in fact- to join us as we pursue the hard work of advocating for the increase or indeed the mere presence of the performing arts in our lives.
The Kings Playhouse ~ Where Stories Come Alive
APRIL
While measures were allowing, we sent our wonderful photographer and staff member Amy MacConnell to take Front Porch Portraits. Once we compiled these lovely pieces of our community (whom we missed already!), we made a video album to celebrate them. You can watch this soulful tribute to our community spirit here.
SUMMER SEASON
We found outdoor and inventive ways to reconnect with our dear members of Thrive. Every art workshop we shared with them became further proof of the great power and necessity of community outreach and unique perspectives told through artistic interpretation. The art of listening, and the power expression.
We were able to hold fabulous High Teas on our outdoor deck, with panoramic views of the luscious gardens. What lovely afternoons were spent in quiet conversation as sweet delight after sweet delight were served from our kitchens. 
Our Haunted Walks were led weekly upon reservation and led eager ghost-story chasers about a dimly lit Georgetown, with delightfully frightful anecdotes shared throughout. We were ever pleasantly surprised by the great number of folk who showed up for these fun and spooky sessions and are excited for future spectre walks to come!
Most fortunately and with great effort, we were able to hold several KP Summer Camps (with an emphasis on Performance)! Our KP Campers had an impossibly fun time with us and even got to dress up to perform their numbers to be filmed and shared with their families!
Every Camp week had a special theme- One of which was The Wild West! We take having fun reeeaaally seriously.
Our beautiful hall served as safe-distance reunion space for meetings and cultural development throughout the season. And our Gallery was a delightful hit as it remained open for lovers of art and beautiful creations to experience in a safe, comfortable, and local setting.
We housed several wonderful art exhibitions not least of which featuring art by talented duo Grace Cressman and sister Ruth Spicer, entitled- Duality.
This particular Gallery Art Exhibition featured Grace’s spectacular photographs (of our dear Island) and Ruth’s immaculate watercolour recreations. Ruth (who lives in Africa) would receive her sister’s photographs (from PEI) and captures the rich colours, vibrant lighting and striking beauty in her watercolour paints of the idyllic landscapes and charming local scenes that exist over 12,000 kilometres away!
AUTUMN INTO WINTER
This fall saw us producing several much-desired local concerts to support our artists and community in safe contexts with “The Arts At Your Door“, with much-appreciated funding from the Government of Canada. Artists were able to perform brilliantly to joyous crowds in outdoor settings and even in a Seniors Living Centre with proper precautions taken. All were very grateful for the live entertainment and we were very moved by the impact of our efforts.
Hallowe’en brought round an extravagant scavenger hunt about Georgetown, a sweet and spooky musical parade of DIY Hallowe’en masks throughout the lovely A.A. MacDonald Memorial Gardens, and of course- a captivatingly decorated Trick-Or-Treat stop.
November was a notably impactful time for us as we doubled down straight after Hallowe’en to create a meaningful plan for Remembrance Day. We invited local families to send in information/photographs of family members who have served or are currently serving, and preserved their legacies upon beautifully-designed poster boards which we presented as a gallery of heroism and sacrifice throughout the gardens. The result was immeasurably moving to all who came to walk throughout the path they adorned. We also managed to hold a notable outdoor Remembrance Day Ceremony which held an enormous importance for us and for our community. The whole was live-streamed and broadcast on our own radio frequency for the possibility of attendance by many means. We will be revisiting our Walk of Heroes in the A.A. MacDonald Memorial Gardens this November of 2021, and many to come, to build on the legacies and connections our heroes forged in courage and continue to forge in devotion.
Into the Winter Season, we held numerous Art Classes (with safety measures in place) which were all a smashing success! An arrangement of incredibly decorated Christmas Trees were presenting in our Hall and many were mesmerized by their beauty as locals came to walk through this Gallery of the Trees.
Safely-distanced photos with Santa were also a wonderful event held in our Hall for the winter season. We even had professional Carollers roam (safely) about Three Rivers to spread holiday cheer to those of us who needed it.
Leading up to the holidays, we invited friends and artists of the Kings Playhouse to send along their recorded holiday wishes (and a performance, if so inclined!) for our patrons and we produced these clips into a series of jubilant holiday videos entitled Joyful, Joyful! You can check it out here! ❄️
We would absolutely love for you to click here to see our 2020 Year at a Glance tribute video- A thank you to our supportive patrons, fantastic artists, tenacious board members, devoted staff, and much-appreciated volunteers! 🌟
