Photo by Matt Preprost \nOne last skillet: John Chase of Merlyn Productions hopes the Ellice Cafe and Theatre space can be maintained as rental venue. \u201cWinnipeg does not need to lose another affordable performance venue,\u201d he says.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nAs the café, run by New Life Ministries, prepares to close Fri., Aug. 24, Chase hopes it can be retained as a community and theatre space.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“Certainly it’s unfortunate. With all of the excellent innovations and improvements, they put a lot of time and effort into the building over the last year,” Chase said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Since 2008, Merlyn has produced four seasons of shows at the theatre, after moving into its Exchange District studio.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“It’s helped us offer a product we could not offer in many other venues,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“It offers a very unique dinner and a show experience under the same roof at a very reasonable price very close to downtown.”<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Although the café will be closed, Merlyn will be allowed to finish its fourth season at the theatre, slated to end Dec. 8, Chase said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Meanwhile, New Life Ministries continues to look for interested parties to take over the building. <\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
The café and theatre were opened in February 2005 by the late Rev. Harry Lehotsky and New Life Ministries as an alcohol-free welcoming place for the community.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
However, the small 45-member congregation has had to subsidize the venture to the tune of $5,000 a month. That’s a matter of economics and a reflection of the competitive restaurant industry in Winnipeg, members say.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“You give it five years, and after lots of money to help it, you give it two more years,” said Curtis Halbesma, interim pastor at New Life.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“We brought in excellent people and coaches and consultants, and we just couldn’t get it to work. After seven years, you look at it and say what are we doing here?”<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
New Life is also looking to sell about half of its low-income housing units.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“We want to do things better. To be responsible for all these businesses and be spread too thin is not that good,” Halbesma said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“What we do have we want to do it well.”<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
New Life has already heard from nearly a dozen groups interested in buying the café and theatre.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“Every one of them I’m really impressed with,” Halbesma said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“We’re hoping whoever we sell it to uses it to continue to bless the neighbourhood.”<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Short of winning the lottery and taking over the space himself, Chase said he’s optimistic about the building’s future.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
At the very least, he hopes it will be maintained as a rental venue.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“We’ve seen community-oriented, staple businesses in our city taken over by a strictly monetary vision,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“Because of the uniqueness of the facility to both the community and artists, it’s very important… someone with a community vision take over premises as a parcel.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“Winnipeg does not need to lose another affordable performance venue,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
He hopes Merlyn can secure an amicable rental arrangement with the facility’s new owner.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n
“Certainly there will come a time where our planning for next year must be completed. If we don’t have anything definite from the Ellice, we would have to look elsewhere.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nFacebook.com\/TheMetroWPG<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nTwitter: @metroWPG<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nmatt.preprost@canstarnews.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":85056956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"education-subject":[],"media-literacy-topic":[],"post_topic":[],"content_type":[24],"class_list":["post-166968226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"acf":{"short_title":"","seo_title":"","deck":"Theatre group hopeful for future of Ellice Cafe and theatre space","story_tag":"","byline":"Matt Preprost","updates":null},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2012\/08\/22\/cafe-readies-for-closure","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Cafe readies for closure","url":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2012\/08\/22\/cafe-readies-for-closure","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2012\/08\/22\/cafe-readies-for-closure"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/mp-cafe-aug22(c).jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/mp-cafe-aug22(c).jpg"},"articleSection":"The Metro","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"feedloaderapi"}],"creator":["feedloaderapi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Our Communities","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2012-08-22T06:04:00Z","datePublished":"2012-08-22T06:04:00Z","dateModified":"2012-08-22T06:04:00Z"},"rendered":"
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