| When out-of-town actors arrive in Calgary to work on a show, their first question is not "Where’s my hotel?" or even "When’s payday?"
It’s "Where’s the Auburn?" says Robin Messer, head stage carpenter at Theatre Calgary. The reputation of the Auburn Saloon, Calgary’s much-loved theatre bar, has spread throughout Canada, he says, to the point that stage workers can’t wait to experience it first-hand.
For the past two months, however, such a pilgrimage has been impossible. In July, after flourishing for 10 years in the same building as the Teatro restaurant – a quick dash from the Centre for the Performing Arts – the Auburn was told that its lease would not be renewed and it was forced to close. A letter-writing campaign by devastated regulars, arguing that the bar was unique in Canada, wasn’t enough to persuade the landlord to reconsider.
It looked as if it might be curtains for a hangout so familiar to the theatre crowd that Messer called it "our living room." The Auburn was a watering hole where ideas were hatched, deals were struck, love affairs ignited, and playwright Eugene Stickland actually worked on scripts, sitting at the bar on mellow Sunday nights with a fountain pen in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other.
"It’s been a creative space for me," Stickland says.
The homey bar hosted not just theatre events, but music jams, readings, fund-raisers and art exhibits. It was so integral to the spirit of local drama that last year it was honoured with the Betty Mitchell Award for outstanding contribution to theatre. Easygoing proprietor Jesse Glasnovic supported the stage community not just through a discount on drinks and a relaxed attitude toward bar tabs, but by staying open until the last raconteur fell silent – which can be daylight when you’re serving actors and directors.
Theatre "is very emotional work," says Stickland. "Some nights it’s just hard to shut it down."
The Auburn was the site of legendary parties, especially on closing nights for shows and festivals. Stickland remembers one performer parading on top of the bar, stepping over drinks while playing the bagpipes. Then there was the infamous "Naked Night," an Alberta Theatre Projects closing night four years ago when a group of customers lost what few inhibitions theatre folk have and ended up boozing in the buff.
To the immense relief of artsy patrons who have felt lost without their gathering place, the Auburn is nearly ready to rise again – just as the theatre season gets into full swing. It will reopen almost kitty-corner from its original location, on the site of a former car dealership at the base of the Calgary Tower.
The new space, suggested to Glasnovic by Vertigo Mystery Theatre, has an exterior door facing Ninth Avenue, as well as an entrance from inside the Tower Centre, across the hall from Vertigo’s almost-complete new theatres. Opening night for the bar is set for Friday, September 26. The Auburn has also been hired to operate the lobby bar in the Vertigo venue, dubbed the Auburn Saloon Too.
What amazes Glasnovic is that the loyal clientele has rallied to rebuild the Auburn, almost as if it were one of their stage productions. Theatre Calgary’s Messer provided his truck to move the saloon’s entire contents, including a distinctive welded-steel tree, cozy couches and rusty-red-stained tables and chairs that helped give the place its warmth.
Set builders dismantled the bar and reconstructed it in the new location. Norm Zilm, a painter at the Centre for the Performing Arts, worked on the room layout. Lighting designer Terry Middleton created the light fixtures and sound technician Mark Belkie did the music system. Volunteers like Lunchbox Theatre stage manager Marcie Januska and artistic director Johanne Deleeuw, and actors Kira Bradley, Trevor Rueger and Shari Wattling, have shown up to drywall, paint, sand and varnish.
"They’ve put in some long hours," says the grateful Glasnovic, who joined the Auburn as a cook in 1995 and became the sole owner in 2002. "They need their bar back."
"It reminds me of the old-fashioned prairie barn-raising," adds Stickland about the community effort to get the bar finished.
The new Auburn can hold 130 patrons, compared to its former capacity of 85. The kitchen has more than double the space, allowing for a broader food menu. There will still be tall windows, so that the staff can spot an approaching regular and have his drink poured before he makes his entrance. But can the saloon’s special chemistry be duplicated?
Glasnovic admits to trepidation. "There was a feel, a vibe, over in the old place – something in the atmosphere that couldn’t be bought. The biggest fear of moving was maybe losing some of that unique feel.
"It was terrifying. But over the last few months, I started to feel more at ease with the incredible amount of support the theatre community was giving me, assuring me that, ‘Where the Auburn goes, we’ll follow.’ I realized that the Auburn’s feeling wasn’t created by the four walls. It was created within them."
Stickland agrees and says that, even though he’s superstitious, he can adjust his Sunday-night playwriting rituals to a new Auburn.
"I don’t think you could say there was a theatre scene in Calgary 10 years ago," he says. "But there is one now and I think part of the reason is the Auburn…. You really have a sense that you are part of a larger community. All roads lead there, no matter what show you’re on." |
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