Gate House Community Association began in 2011 when Terry Ruth Eissfeldt acted on her
vision of a performance space for live theatre on the North Island. She rented the theatre and then,
she chased down five of her closest friends and started a board. Then a Charitable
organization was formed.

We started out showing movies every week to keep the doors open while focusing on live
theatre. Soon after, an after-school drama program for kids grades 4 to 12. Juniors and Seniors. We
started out charging for registration but in recent years have been able to offer it free of charge
to everyone.

 

Every year Terry Ruth Eissfeldt and Sequoia Coe gave hours and hours of their
time to teach and lead this fun activity, and it has been well attended over the years! Both
groups do one or two productions each year. In addition to the after-school drama program, there have always been productions including adults and sometimes a mix of both kids and adults. These take weeks of planning and rehearsals to say nothing of the sets, props, and costumes involved!

 

We are thankful to the community for their involvement, participation, and support! We couldn’t do it without you!

In 2018 we received a grant for wheelchair access, which began a renovation of the theatre
space. We redid the lobby washroom, got new seating and carpets, and painted the existing
sound baffle walls to give the place a fresh new look and colour scheme! Emergency lighting
and exit signs were also upgraded.

In 2019 we began bringing musical groups to perform at the Gate House Theatre. Then Covid
hit and put a damper on all our activities for some time! But we survived and in November of
2021 we received our first Music Grant and began presenting concerts on a regular basis.
In 2021 we hosted our first North Island Music Festival and at that point achieved the financial
stability we had been lacking. With enthusiastic appreciation for the huge group of volunteers
that made it happen and the support we received from the community, we say THANK YOU!

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We now show matinee movies every other Sunday throughout the fall and winter, we also have a Drive-In movie system that operates throughout the spring and summer that is available to rent for the surrounding communities.

Gate House Theatre is presently run by a board of eleven people who are community-minded
and understand the value of having a venue like Gate House Theatre in such a small town. We
exist to bring arts to the community and to provide entertainment and a meeting place for
community events.

We are eternally grateful to General Properties for the use of the space!