Highland Arts Theatre

Highland Arts Theatre - "The HAT"
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (1910–1925), St. Andrew's United Church (1925–2013)

Official logo of the Highland Arts Theatre, designed by Hilary Scott.

Highland Arts Theatre during a regional broadcast of CBC's Mainstreet for East Coast Music Week, 2016.
Highland Arts Theatre - "The HAT"
The HAT on Cape Breton Island
Address 40 Bentinck Street
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Canada
Coordinates 46°08′20″N 60°11′38″W / 46.138782°N 60.194000°W / 46.138782; -60.194000
Owner Highland Quality Productions Incorporated
Designation Provincially and Municipally Registered Property, Nova Scotia Heritage Property Act
Type Theatre
Genre(s) Theatre, music, concerts, film
Seating type Soft seat, reserved seating
Capacity Theatre: 400~
Concerts: up to 550
Current use Arts and culture centre
Production Summer Repertory Season
Construction
Broke ground April 14, 1910[1]
Built 1910–1911
Opened June 25, 1911 (1911-June-25)
Reopened June 3, 2014
Years active 1911–2013 (church), 2014 - present (theatre)
Construction cost $62,945 CAD (1911)
Architect Samuel G. Curry and William F. Sparling of Toronto (Curry & Sparling)[2]
General contractor Rhodes Curry Company
Website
www.highlandartstheatre.com

The Highland Arts Theatre is a historic building, first constructed as a Presbyterian Church, now operating an arts and culture centre in Sydney, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was initially constructed as St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

In June 2014 St. Andrew's reopened as the Highland Arts Theatre, a live play and film theatre and concert venue located in Sydney's waterfront district.

History

St Andrews ca. 1914, funeral featuring a horse-drawn hearse.

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, construction of which started in 1910 and completed in 1911, was the third church built by the Sydney and Mira Presbyterian congregation, originating from 1852. The congregations outgrew the two previous Sydney churches, and so St. Andrew's was built to contain over 1,000 people for services.[1]

In 1925, St. Andrew's Church joined with Methodist and Congregational churches to form the United Church and St. Andrew's then became St. Andrew's United Church. This was a dramatic change for some members of the congregation and many members were lost, however new were gained.[3] St. Andrew's United Church continued as a church with full-time clergy until 2013 when it was decommissioned after the dwindling congregation decided the heating bills for the 104-year-old sanctuary were too expensive.[4] On Wednesday, July 31, 2013, the congregation of St. Andrew's United Church gathered for the Decommissioning Service as the chimes played a call to worship for one final time.[5]

The Highland Arts Theatre

Architecture

The pastor at the time of planning and construction, Rev. Dr. John Pringle, D.D., travelled to Toronto and met with architects Curry and Sparling to develop the plans for the church. The contract for construction of the building on Bentinck St. was awarded to Rhodes and Curry Company at a cost of $41,635 and when fully completed was $62,945. This is a very fine structure, built using red brick from Mira, a local brickyard.[3][6] Architecturally, the end result was a beautiful house of worship, with impressive towers, bells chiming on days of worship and the steadfast permanence of the Gothic Revival style, rare within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.[3]

Some of the Character-defining elements of St. Andrew's / Highland Arts Theatre relate to its Gothic Revival style and include its buttressed belfry towers of differing heights, the arched windows, dentil moulding and cornice on the belfry towers, the three-over-three arched windows in upper belfry of taller tower, the three arched windows in upper belfry of lower tower, the wide entry staircase leading to the three arched entries containing two wooden doors each, a large Palladian derivative window above entry. Other character-defining elements are its construction of locally made brick, all original interior elements including: Casavant Frères pipe organ, railings, columns, trim and barrel vaulted ceiling arcing 44 feet (13 m) above the thearte floor; ten bells, inscribed with Biblical verses in bell tower.[3]

Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ

Casavant Frères Pipe Organ

The 2,045 pipe, three-manual pipe organ made by the famous Casavant Frères in Quebec is the largest such instrument on Cape Breton Island.[7] Its facade, casing, pipes, swell and chorus boxes completely fill the apse of the theatre. The organ was purchased for the new church, then under construction, in 1911 for $5,595 as Casavant Brothers, Ltd., Opus 452.[8][9] The original specification was for three manuals, 4 divisions, 29 stops, 27 registers, 29 ranks, 1843 pipes. A Stoplist for the 1911 instrument copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Op. 452 1911 3/29, courtesy of the Casavant Frères Archives, St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada is available by following this link: Original Stoplist

The organ was rebuilt in 1946 by Casavant Frères Ltée. as Op. 1841, with 3 new Choir stops, a traditional style console with roll top, three manuals, 4 divisions, 33 stops, 30 registers, 32 ranks, 2045 pipes. Manual compass is 61 notes, pedal compass is 32 notes. Equipped with electro-pneumatic (EP) chests, drawknobs in vertical rows on angled jambs, balanced swell shoes/pedals, standard AGO placement, adjustable combination pistons, AGO Standard (concave radiating) pedalboard, reversible full organ/tutti toe stud, combination action thumb pistons, combination action toe studs, coupler reversible thumb pistons, coupler reversible toe studs. Added in 1962 were a Clarion 4' to the Swell and a hooded Harmonic Trumpet, 68 pipes, with new pipework supplied by Casavant via Ledoux & MacDonald Organ Service Co., Halifax. Wind is supplied by a 3 hp electric blower located in the basement directly below the organ.

The following link leads to a Stoplist for the 1946 instrument, copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Frères Ltée., Opus 1841, 1946. Stoplist The 18-ton organ underwent $15,000 in repairs to its bellows in 2008.[10]

Chime (Bells)

This is the arrangement of a McShane Eight Bell Chime as it would appear in the Bell Chamber of a tower. This is very similar to layout of the Ten Bell Highland Arts Theatre Chime.

The chime, consisting of ten bells located in the south bell tower, is still in use today. The bells were cast in bronze (bell metal) for St. Andrew's Church by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and are dated 1911. The bells are arranged as a traditional chime of 10 bells and are played using the original unmodified McShane "pump handle" chimestand with deep key-fall on all notes. Nine of the bells are hung fixed in position in the main chime frame in the belfry, the tenth, the heaviest bell, is mounted in a rotary iron yoke on iron stands above the main chime frame. This bell, the tenor bell, is equipped with both a spring clapper and a tolling hammer so can be played either by swing chiming or by using the chimestand located in the ringing room immediately below the Bell Chamber in the bell tower.

All the bells have the foundry's name cast onto their waist. The nine smaller bells are also decorated with inscriptions, quotes from Psalms from the King James Version of the Bible, cast onto their waist, while the largest bell's inscription reads "St. Andrews Church, Sydney NS". This largest bell weighs about 2,050 lb (930 kg) and its pitch is E in the middle octave. The chime is attuned to concert pitch, to the eight notes of the octave or diatonic scale with two bells added, one bell a semitone, a flat seventh, and one bell, the treble bell, above the octave. This smallest bell, at about 200 lb (91 kg), rings an F♯.[11]

In December 2015 a video posted on Facebook of Sydney native Glenda Watt playing the Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the chime was viewed more than 1.6 million times within the first nine days of it being uploaded to the social networking site.[12][13][14][15]

Follow this link to a page of videos of the chime being played: The Chimes ~ Christmas Music

Heritage designations

Municipal Heritage Property: On September 18, 2007 the Cape Breton Regional Municipality formally recognized St. Andrew's United Church as a Municipally Registered Property under the Nova Scotia Heritage Property Act, Chapter 199 of the revised Statutes, 1989, amended 1991, c. 10; 1998, c. 18, s. 561; 2010, c. 54[3][8] The Cape Breton Regional Municipality designated St. Andrew's Church and the property it sits on, recognizing St. Andrew's for its early and continuing presence in the community as well as the striking architecture. It is one of the few brick buildings in the area, and is impressive for its size and beauty.[3]

Provincial Heritage Property: On August 29, 2012 the Minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Heritage Property Act entered St. Andrew's United Church into the Provincial Registry of Heritage Property resulting in provincial heritage protection for the theatre.

Concerts

Soundcheck for East Coast Music Week: Folk Stage, featuring Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers on Friday, April 15, 2016.

While still serving as a church, St. Andrew's was considered to be perhaps the finest concert venue in the city of Sydney. Before its rebirth as an arts centre, the building had a distinguished background as a performance space. Classical musicians regularly held recitals and concerts there over the years because of the building's outstanding acoustical properties and its Casavant Freres organ.[16] In the mid 1950s St. Andrew's was a regular stop for one of the incarnations of the Halifax Symphony Orchestra whose performances at St. Andrew's were broadcast regionally and even nationally by CBC Radio. Thomas Mayer was the conductor. He would often invite local performers to join them, at the time there were several operatic sopranos and mezzo-sopranos from Cape Breton who gained a national following because of these broadcasts. More recently, due to its seating capacity of over 1,000, and excellent acoustics it was sought after by organizations such as Celtic Colours, The Barra MacNeils,[17] and the Cape Breton Chorale.[7]

Since reopening as the Highland Arts Theatre many concerts have been presented.

The following are some of the artists that have performed at The HAT :

Live theatre

HEART OF STEEL a new musical by Wesley J. Colford, a production of the Highland Arts Theatre.

Highland Arts Theatre, or "The HAT" as it is affectionately called, is the name of the newly renovated St. Andrew's Church. When the church was decommissioned in 2013, local musician and businessman Kevin Colford stepped up to instigate a transformation of the beloved historical building into a state of the art centre for arts and culture. The venue officially re-opened on Tuesday, June 3, 2014[18] with an original musical comedy, "The Wakowski Brothers - A Cape Breton Vaudeville".

Sound and lighting were all upgraded, with new mixing consoles, sound reinforcement systems, lighting grid, lighting control console, dimmers, and intelligent lighting installed. The pews were replaced with 650 stadium-style theatre seats, converting the space to a "soft seater". A large re-enforced stage was constructed and a flexible stage curtaining system, projection screen, and video projectors were installed. The three large Dressing / Green Rooms were upgraded, a Grand Piano was brought in and the fully functioning Pipe Organ was serviced. Renovations have thus far been for function only — the natural aesthetic and acoustics remain intact.

While the venue is available for rent the theatre has begun to host many of Cape Breton's finest in the fields of music, dance, and entertainment. The management's intention is to create a reliable theatrical presence downtown, producing quality productions with a special emphasis on Cape Breton songs and stories. The Highland Arts Theatre is now actively used for concerts, lectures, weddings, and of course performances of any kind.

A Fall and a Winter/Spring season of plays are offered each year as well as a Summer Repertory theatre season, now in performance.

Past productions

The following is a list of plays performed since reopening as The HAT :

2014:

2015:

2016:

2016 Summer theatre season:

2016 Fall theatre season:

Current production

Upcoming productions

2017 Winter-Spring theatre season:

Film

Film at the Highland Arts Theatre debuted in December 2014 with three afternoon matinees and three evening showings of six Black & White movies from the 1930s through to the 1950s. This was followed up on November 11, 2015 with a Free Screening of New Short Films from Atlantic Canada, courtesy of the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative. Films shown were:

Top Hat Pictures, a subsidiary of Highland Arts Theatre, officially launched in January, 2016, concentrating on newly released Canadian and internationally acclaimed films not available at other venues. Screenings using The HAT's Barco 30,000 lumen, 2K three-chip DLP digital cinema projector occur on Mondays at 7 pm., monthly. The premiere showing was Trumbo (2015) on Monday, January 25.

The following is a list of films previously shown at The HAT :

Box Office

The Highland Arts Theatre's Box Office is located at the side door of the Theatre at 40 Bentinck Street.

Highland Arts Theatre 2,045 pipe, three-manual Casavant Frères Pipe Organ
The rank of metal pipes that make up the visible face of the organ.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of the rank of metal pipes that make up the visible face of the organ. 
Choir and Swell Stops to the left of the manuals.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of the Choir and Swell Stops to the left of the manuals. 
Casavant Frères Organ Console, showing the Stops and the three Manuals.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of the Console, showing the Stops, the three Manuals, and the Pedals. 
Casavant Frères Organ Great and Pedal Stops to the right of the manuals.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of the Great and Pedal Stops to the right of the manuals. 
Casavant Frères ranks of square wooden pipes of all sizes inside the organ.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of one of the ranks of wooden pipes inside the organ. 
Casavant Frères ranks of round, grey metal pipes and square wooden pipes of all sizes inside one of the swell boxes inside the organ.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of a number of the ranks of metal and wooden pipes inside one of the swell boxes inside the organ. 
Casavant Frères ranks of round, grey metal organ pipes of all sizes inside one of the swell boxes inside the organ.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - view of several of the ranks of metal pipes inside one of the swell boxes inside the organ. 
Casavant Frères ranks of round, grey metal pipes and square wooden pipes of all sizes inside the organ.
Highland Arts Theatre Casavant Frères Organ - looking down from above at several of the ranks of metal and wooden pipes inside the organ. 

References

  1. 1 2 McFayden, E. D. (1948). Past, present, future : Saint Andrew's congregation, United Church of Canada, Sydney, Nova Scotia : A Symposium (booklet). Sydney, Nova Scotia: Lewis R. Macdonald Printing. pp. 10–15.
  2. ↑ "Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: SPARLING, William Frederick (1884-1940)". Robert G. Hill, Architect, FRAIC, Author & Editor. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Canadian Register of Historic Places: St. Andrew's United Church". Parks Canada Agency. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Sydney's St. Andrews Church reborn as theatre, 104-year-old sanctuary now 650-seat Highland Arts Theatre". CBC News. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ "St. Andrew's United Church Chimes". G-Fit Fitness Studio. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ Murray, Rev. John (1921). The History of The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton (book). Truro, Nova Scotia: News Publishing Co. Ltd. p. 167. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  7. 1 2 "St. Andrew's United Church Sydney". Parks Canada Agency. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Cape Breton Post, St. Andrews United Church named a municipal heritage property". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  9. ↑ "OHS Database, Casavant Brothers, Ltd., Opus 452, 1911". The Organ Historical Society. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Cape Breton Post, No proposals brought forward on future of landmark church". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  11. ↑ "TowerBells: SYDNEY : CANADA - NS". TowerBells Website. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Cape Breton Post: Video of Sydney woman playing former church's chimes goes viral". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Videos of Coxheath's Glenda Watt making music with the bells go viral". Chronicle Herald. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Sydney woman playing chimes goes viral on Facebook". CBC News. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Viral Video: Christmas carol finds worldwide audience". CTV Atlantic. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Cape Breton Post, Curtain ready to rise on new Sydney performance space". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Cathedral marks a new journey for Barra MacNeils". The Inverness Oran. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Cape Breton Post, Highland Arts Theatre". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Cape Breton Post, Historical figures offer advice in "Herstory" at Highland Arts Theatre". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
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