Intermission Magazine: Uncommonly for a Toronto performing arts organization, Soulpepper Theatre has a full four performance spaces for its activities — three theatres and a cabaret — which it’s putting to robust use in its 2026-27 season, featuring 12 productions. But another area of the Distillery District theatre is currently capturing new artistic director Paolo Santalucia’s imagination: the lobby.
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I think it’s cool that the Soulpepper Theatre is incorporating their creative energy into their lobby space as well, and I think that there are ways that this idea can be used to solve the problem of “the audience just isn’t coming”. Last week I read an article about the concerns of the theatre community in Pittsburgh, and how the broadway tours visiting town are bringing in a substantial amount of people, the local theatres are suffering. The question has become less about how to get people in the seats, and rather, what is it about theatre that could change to make it more appealing. The leadership at the Soulpepper Theatre wonders if it’s the content that needs to change or the environment. This reminds me of an article I read a few years ago talking about the public library’s shift from being a place for research, to being a center for community. The library still has the same resources it had when it was a research center, but the intention has changed, and as a result, more people feel empowered to use it; I have never thought of a theatre using this same method, but would be interested in knowing how it turns out.
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