THEATRE NEWS: That's Shaw biz
29 JAN/11

Even though ticket sales picked up by the end of its 2010 season, it didn't provide enough of a boost to keep the Shaw Festival from posting a $1.3 million deficit on total revenues of $27.4 million for its 49th season — a deficit more than offset by the $1.8 million surplus posted in the previous season. The numbers were presented Friday at the Festival's annual meeting in Niagara-On-The-Lake.

Although the Festival's total revenue for the season just past fell $1.5 million over the previous season, the numbers weren't all bad, considering the 2009 numbers included a $3.2 million bequest.

In fact, according to numbers released by Hazel Claxon, treasurer of the Board of Governors, total attendance at the summer festival was up 3.6% over the previous season, while revenue from tickets sales rose by 2 %. And as the company prepares to head into its 50th season, which officially kicks off May 25 with a production of Bernard Shaw's HEARTBREAK HOUSE, artistic director Jackie Maxwell promised a season that would "celebrate the innovative and essential theatre company that we embody."