Magnus boasts of success. (Thunder Bay).

Take an old school building, turn it into a theatre with "state-of-the-art" equipment, add some actors to the equation and the curtain will go up, along with the attendance.

"We had under 1,000 subscriptions in the old theatre," Mario Crudo, artistic director of Magnus Theatre says. "Now we have over 1,700."

The Thunder Bay Magnus Theatre relocated to Waverley Park and opened in September of last year.

"It was very appropriate because we opened our new theatre on our 30th season," Cudo says. "The theatre is the only building in a small park in the centre of town up on a hill overlooking the lake."

Cudo restored the old school, adding a state-of-the-art 250-seat theatre to the building.

"We've been so fortunate in that one of the things we have in the theatre is a fly tower which allows us to take somebody up and out of sight of the audience," Cudo says. "We built that not thinking that we could possibly have the actual equipment until several years down the road."

He received a "very generous" equipment grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage and is able to outfit the theatre with the equipment now.

Within the next two weeks the theatre will have a "full complement" of theatre equipment arriving, according to Cudo.

The theatre's overall attendance last season was 83 per cent on average.

"We've had all kinds of wonderful comments from our patrons who just love the theatre," he says.

The total budget for the project was $5.5 million, of which $4.6 million was allotted for construction costs, and the remaining funds went towards auxiliary expenses, Cudo says.

"Of that five-and-a-half million-dollar project budget we've raised all but approximately $300,000, which we have left to raise," Cudo says. "We've done exceptionally well."

Between 40 to 45 actors have performed at Magnus this season. They come from Thunder Bay, Toronto, Winnipeg and occasionally from Vancouver. The actors range in ages from 17, to 80, according to Cudo.

Cudo travels to Toronto every year for auditions.

He sees about 200 actors each summer and "usually" takes 10 minutes to decide who is going to play at Magnus.

Twelve actors opened the theatre with Midsummer Night's Dream.

"We use as many of the professional actors in town (Thunder Bay) as we possibly can."

Some of the productions the theatre has featured include Amadeus, Mary's Wedding, fare Wel and 2 Pianos, 4 Hands.

The theatre group offers a school tour, as well, that runs from September to April. Students from kindergarten to Grades 3 and 4 are kept entertained while they learn important life lessons through theatre productions.

RELATED ARTICLE: Arts, culture acts as draw for Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay's contribution to the cultural aspect of the city has been a drawing card for those looking to relocate to the area, according to Jane Bjorn, president of the Thunder Bay Regional Arts Council.

"It most definitely acts as a draw," Bjorn says.

She says people want their children involved in cultural activities, and this is what the city "promotes and encourages."

"We have a tremendous commitment from the city," Colleen Gibson, artistic administrator for the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra says. "The city has been behind the orchestra as well as the people."

Gibson, a principal oboe player for the orchestra says it is made up of 30 full-time musicians that perform from October until April. They do two tours a year and have performed in Kenora, Wawa and Timmins. The orchestra also performs in the Thunder Bay community auditorium.

"Acoustically, the 14-year-old auditorium is standing up to the test of time," Gibson says.

The orchestra has done same performing at the new Magnus Theatre as well.

Three years ago the orchestra faced some financial problems and came close to bankruptcy. But Gibson says the members realized that if the orchestra dissolved, it would not be an easy task to bring a symphony back into the city.

"People really wanted to keep it going and one component of the decision to do so was the question, "What's available culturally?'"

www.thunderbayculture.com