ELK POINT – The auditorium floor gleamed like a mirror in front of a stage already set for the March 28 premiere of the 2024 Spring Dinner Theatre’s ‘Death By Chocolate.’ Kitchen equipment was on the move back to its original places last week as finishing touches were put on the repairs from the Feb. 4 sewage backup that sent the Elk Point and District Ukrainian Dance Club’s Metelytsia Zabava to the Derwent Hall.
Practices for the dinner theatre, Elk Point Community Choir, and the dance club resumed within the following two weeks with the damaged areas, including the washrooms and kitchen, blocked off for well over a month. Signs stating ‘Staff Only! Wet crack filler,' were on the main entrance doors just a week ago, as repair crews continued their work on the floors inside.
However, Allied Arts spokesman and dinner theatre director Don Conrad said the work would be complete and everything possible would be “back to normal”’ in time for opening night, thanks to the efforts of the contractors, cleaning and restoration workers and the Town of Elk Point Public Works, who all worked at “getting the Allied Arts Centre cleaned up after the damage and all the resulting renovations and repairs.”
Slow ticket sales for the dinner theatre resulting from the centre’s shutdown sped up considerably as patrons learned that repairs were well underway and were “moving fast” within the final two weeks.
The dinner theatre will start off the newly revised 2025 calendar for Allied Arts, with the Farmers Market returning April 10 and practices well underway for the Elk Point Theatre Project’s ‘Shrek the Musical Jr.’ The production will take place at the end of April and beginning of May, as Allied Arts gets back to its usual busy schedule of events.
