We're counting down our top ten local news stories of 2018, and the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre and the turmoil they faced starts the list at #10.

In order to follow this story we actually need to go back to 2017 when the Cultural Centre board fired two General Managers in the first half of the year.

Darren McCaffery was hired to replace Graham Hall, four months later, it would be a contract that McCaffery struck with RuBarb Productions and other reasons that contributed to the rocky situation this year and got the new GM fired by the board of directors, who didn't agree with this new direction.

However, the contract went through which allowed RuBarb to move from their office a block away on Main Street into the Cultural Centre basement.

Less than a year later the drama company accused the board of issuing an eviction notice without reason, but, the board responded and explained they tried to work through the issues but the relationship fell apart when RuBarb expanded beyond their allotted space and made an authorized alterations to the building, among other concerns.

"The biggest concern that the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre has is the amount of space that is required to run a full-sized theatre company as well as a school of performing arts out of the facility, and including the storage that is required for costumes, props and so on," current GM Derek Cronin explained in an earlier interview. "For that reason, it's kind of hindered our relationship with some other local arts groups and arts organizations."

With the eviction being issued for the production company to get out by the end of June 2018, just prior to the beginning of their summer stage season. The struggle went public as artistic director and CEO Evie Coop Sawatzki took to social media and reached out to the community to try and drum up public support.

"We signed our contract last year, and so anyway, I don't want to get into a whole lot of that or whole lot of any of that," Koop-Sawatzky has said. "Saw Regardless, we went into re-negotiations last week and the Cultural Centre has taken the contract off of the table and - very shocking."

Whether it was a change of heart from the Cultural Centre board or the pressure from public exposure, the eviction notice was extended, allowing RuBarb to stay through and finish their summer production.

There was a fundraiser created to help the company move into their new facility after the eviction, but that pursuit was forgotten as RuBarb announced they would cease operation as their venture was considered no longer financially sustainable.

The production company that has been holding performances since 2006, both professional and community shows, closed down, leaving a hole in Moose Jaw's local theatre community.