Some people are in a state of shock following the decision to remove RuBarb Productions as tenants from the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre.
It wasn't that long ago that they moved in and left their previous location on Main Street to be closer to the stage they continously perform on.
"We've been asked to move out by June 30th. It's definitely not an ideal time for us; we had hoped that that could perhaps be delayed, so we have to move out by June 30th and we have two shows happening this weekend," explained Artistic Director and CEO, Evie Koop-Sawatzky.
This was a surprise seeings how it wasn't long ago that they signed paperwork stating the local facility would be their new home.
"We signed our contract last year, a 5 year graduated contract with the Cultural Centre, and so anyway I don't want to get into a whole lot of that. We went into renegotiations last week and the Cultural Centre has taken the contract off the table. Very shocking."
Koop-Sawatzsky also added that relocating once again will also come with a cost - something that the professional theater company didn't plan for.
"When we moved into the space we spent $15,000 to get it all fixed up and get phone lines in and a lot of things that I wont get into. The cost of moving is pretty hard, especially on a registered charity. We don't have extra money sitting around in the bank for that."
Sitting on the other side of the fence is the Cultural Centre, which is saying this tough decision all boiled down to space - or in this case, a lack thereof.
General Manager Derik Cronan detailed that the amount of space required to run a full-sized theatre company and performing arts school is more than they have to give to one single tenant, epecially when it comes to things like offices, rehearsal space, etc.
"Including the storage space that's required for costumes, props and so on. For that reason it's kind of hindered our relationship with some other local arts groups and organizations, and for this reason I feel that it's in the best interest in the Cultural Centre that we terminate the tenancy agreement with RuBarb Productions," said Cronan.
He also added that a decision of this magnitude didn't happen overnight, and it also came with much communication between both parties.
"All decisions to do with long term contracts do have to go through the board of directors. That is one thing that we have been going back and forth, with our board and RuBarb's board in negotiating the contract and finding common ground, but I feel that we just weren't able to in terms of the space."
Despite not being able to house RuBarb anymore, Cronan wanted to make it clear that they still want to continue the relationship and continue hosting their productions on the Mae Wilson stage.
"I want to make it clear that we do hope to continue on going forward with RuBarb Productions as the school and as the theatre company, and work with them in order to get their shows at Mae Wilson Theatre, and we look forward to having their upcoming show - that actually starts this week. I'm hoping that they will still continue to do their summer theatre festival at the Mae Wilson Theatre. So I do look forward to continuing that relationship with them."
Another issue that came to light recently that cemented the board's thoughts that there isn't enough room for an organization of this size to work out of a building in which various other need access to, happened not long ago when Moose Jaw was the host of a local festival.
According to Cronan, due to RuBarb taking up rehearsal space, members of the band choral festival had to rehearse upstairs in the facility, which interrupted other tenants.
RuBarb has until the end of the month to leave the facility, despite the fact that they have four shows set to hit the Mae Wilson Theatre this summer, including two this weekend.
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