It may be the Stratford Festival that has been around for more than 70 years and celebrates the work of humanity’s most legendary playwright, William Shakespeare, but for Timothy and Frances Price, before that festival entered their lives, there was the Shaw.
The couple first attended a play at the Shaw Festival more than 40 years ago, after being invited down to Niagara-on-the-Lake one summer in 1980.
“We enjoyed the town, we enjoyed the plays and the community,” said Tim.
“And the atmosphere at the Shaw,” Frances added.
After that, they would come down to the town multiple times a year for the weekend or as part of corporate-sponsored evenings and see various productions put on by the Shaw.
Today, the Prices are active supporters of the Shaw Festival — Tim was invited to join the board of directors 10 years ago and serves as its vice-chair today, and was subsequently invited to become chair of the board of governors when it was formed six years ago.
Tim has been chairman of Brookfield Funds since 1997. The couple are active in the world of philanthropy, lending their financial and leadership support to institutions and non-profit organizations, primarily in Toronto, where they’re from.
Describing their entrance into the world of philanthropy, Tim said that, “needless to say,” the couple has been financially fortunate, which made them want to be giving to others.
“For me, I grew up in England,” Frances added. “My parents were always philanthropic in a much smaller ways than we are. Things were different then after the Second World War, and they were always involved in community affairs, so it just seemed natural to me.”
They’ve been supporters of organizations in the worlds of education, health and business, including the Schulich School of Business and the entrepreneurial non-profit NEXT Canada, but they say it’s the arts in Canada they want to lend their backing to the most.
“We do believe the arts side of things is the most vulnerable to pullback in funds from various sources. So it’s that area where we have put our emphasis in terms of philanthropy,” Tim said.
Last month, the Shaw Festival celebrated the Prices’ donation of $10 million to fund the multi-million-dollar reconstruction of the Royal George Theatre, which was torn down in the spring and is set to be rebuilt with a larger, modern venue.
The original jewel-box theatre had a home on Queen Street for 111 years. The new Royal George is set to open in fall 2028, with its rebuild expected to cost around $90 million.
Tim Price said the $10-million donation gift was quietly in the works for a few years.
“We really wanted to help them in their fundraising for this venture and for other things that the Shaw needed to really help spur the philanthropy from others that might have been thinking about it, and draw them with us into supporting what we believe is a wonderful repertory theatre,” Tim said.
The Royal George has been part of the Shaw Festival’s collection of venues for more than four decades. Prior to 1980, the festival ran its productions out of two venues: the Court House Theatre, the first venue it hosted productions out of when the festival began in 1962, and the Festival Theatre, which opened in 1973.
However, starting in the ’80s, the Shaw expanded its reach to another spot on Queen Street: an old theatre at 85 Queen St., known at the time as the Brock Theatre.
In 1980, the theatre festival company acquired the venue from the Canadian Mime Theatre and, starting that year, began to host a handful of productions there, while completing several renovations over the years.
For the new name, the company chose to dip back into the past.
In the 1920s, George Reid purchased the venue that was built to host live stage performances entertaining the troops stationed at Niagara Camp. After Reid took over the theatre, it was used for vaudeville acts, community gatherings and touring performances.
During that time, it was called the Royal George, and would continue to be called that until 1929, when the theatre once again changed hands.
Fast-forward five decades, the Shaw brought the old name back.
As part of their large donation, the Prices were offered the right to change the name. They opted not to.
“We really couldn’t see how it would enhance the Royal George and felt that the name was really suitable for being in Niagara-on-the-Lake and that us trying to change it in some way wasn’t going to be that helpful,” Tim said.
The Shaw’s spokesperson Cathy Cowan shared that the theatre company hasn’t determined yet what official acknowledgement the Prices will receive when the theatre reopens and won’t have confirmed plans until closer to the new theatre’s opening.
The Prices are aware that the rebuilding of the Royal George has drawn ongoing scrunity from some in Niagara-on-the-Lake who don’t approve of the teardown of the old venue and the new venue’s size.
“People don’t like change, typically,” Tim said. “In this instance, we could see that the company had done everything it possibly could to keep the feel and the theatre in the same way as it was before, but giving it a contemporary existence.”
He noted some of the issues the building has had over the years due to its building materials, such as the green room and changing rooms flooding after every rain storm, sometimes cancelling performances.
In that regard, he said it makes sense for the Shaw to take advantage of new materials and new modes of architecture to give the theatre better drainage, lighting and amenities.
“I felt very sad for the town that these elements were so strident, because everybody knew that the festival was having trouble during rainstorms,” he said. “Everybody knew that it was old and dank and needed change.”
Bigger than that change, however, is the hope that the new and bigger Royal George will become a hub in downtown Old Town that’ll bring more recognition to the Shaw’s work.
“What this is going to do for the town is open up the theatre, because the doors will be open daily for people to go in, have a coffee, sit and talk, and go and watch practices as they take place in the theatre or in the other areas,” said Tim. “I think it’ll allow Royal George to be more involved with Queen Street and the people that are there in great numbers during the summer.”
Whether it’s tourists or locals, the goal is for more people to know that live theatre, he said “is living among them.”
