Growth spurt

Young People’s Theatre expansion has transformed its space

Young People’s Theatre, Canada’s oldest and largest professional theatre company for young audiences, has unveiled the results of a historic $13.5-million expansion, which includes extensive renovations to its existing venue along with a new 12,000-square-foot facility.

More than a decade in the making, the “Room for Imagination” expansion has significantly transformed the theatre’s existing space, a heritage building it has occupied since 1977, and introduced a new hub, right across the street, for its educational and community programming.

“When you consider what the last few years have been like for our young people, my strongest commitment at this time has been to bring back joy for creation and imagination,” said Herbie Barnes, the new artistic director of YPT. “And now, we have room for it.”

In the theatre’s existing facility at 165 Front St., the lobby space is doubled in size, brighter and roomier. Architect Martin Kohn’s design embraces curves and rounded features, which complement the radius exterior windows and the pair of brick archways that greet patrons at the entrance of the Renaissance Revival-style building.

Suspended discs now dot the ceiling, serving as both sound baffles and lighting fixtures. On the second floor, outside the 450-seat Ada Slaight Stage theatre, an airy rotunda, wrapped by a curved staircase, is home to a new mural, “Celestial Creations” by Indigenous artist Jay Soule, also known as Chippewar. Other murals of show posters from the theatre’s past line the brick walls of the front-of-house area.

The comprehensive interior facelift ushers in a new chapter in the building’s storied history. Opening in 1889, the structure first served as a stable for the Toronto Street Railway Company, which operated a fleet of horse-drawn streetcars.

When those streetcars were retired in favour of electric models just three years later, the building was converted into a steam power plant to support the transit operations.

Some three decades later, in 1921, it was converted yet again into a depot and warehouse. Following an extensive and award-winning renovation in 1977, YPT moved into the space. But after more than 45 years in the building, YPT was bursting at the seams, said executive director Nancy Webster, who spearheaded the expansion project.

“The space problems, more than anything, had to do with the fact that our education programs have expanded so much alongside the professional theatre we do on our stages,” she said.

Over the past decade, the constraints became increasingly evident. Some of the theatre’s drama school programming was moved off site, while the company’s smaller 115-seat Studio Theatre was used as a rehearsal hall and classroom for educational and community events, said Webster.

The new three-storey facility across the street, named YPT 161 Studios, will house three studios and classrooms, including a mainstage-size rehearsal hall. This will allow the Studio Theatre to be used as a dedicated performance venue, as originally intended, for the first time in years.

Barnes said he hopes to open the black-box theatre to other arts organizations in the city.

“Toronto has lost so many theatre spaces in the past 12 years. So this space will be a place where we can bring in other companies and give them the opportunity to use a stage,” said Barnes.

Behind the scenes, the renovation of the main building includes significant upgrades to the theatre’s equipment. The previous lighting system was one of the oldest in the country.

The 50-year-old dimmers were originally brought over from the O’Keefe Centre — now known as Meridian Hall — in 1977. There’s only one person in Canada who knew how to maintain them.

“The technology has jumped 50 years in one year,” said Barnes. “Now, we can be way more creative in our design.”

For the artists, creatives and backstage workers who have been part of YPT’s history, the expansion is incredibly special and means the company will continue to be there for a new generation of audiences.

“In my life, YPT has always been there,” said actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee at the unveiling ceremony, accompanied by his two sons, Noah and Miles, both students at the theatre company’s drama school. “This is not just a building, this is not just a theatre for me. This is a place where you can have dreams and have these dreams come true.”

The “Kim’s Convenience” actor recounted how one of his first professional gigs was in a YPT touring production of “Naomi’s Road.” And it was at another YPT production that he met his wife, Anna.

“YPT, it’s in my heart, it’s part of my DNA, it’s made me who I am. And I’m so grateful for it,” he added.

The first production to be staged in the renovated theatre venue will be Barnes’ new play, “Bentboy,” directed by Eric Coates and running from Oct. 3 to 23 at the Ada Slaight Stage.