The Academy Theatre
By the late nineteenth century, Lindsay was growing as a county seat on the banks of the Scugog River. It was a busy railway town, and steamships sailed to the wharf from communities like Bobcaygeon. Having been built on a former wetland, Kent Street was still marshy and it was common to see wagons sinking up to their axles. Despite these hardships, progress was a transcending value of the Victorian era, and a performance space would be a wonderful addition to this growing community.
R.J. Matchett and Fred Knowlton led the project to build the Academy of Music. Peterborough architect William Blackwell designed a beautiful building in the Romanesque Revival style, that he would become known for bringing to the region. His masterpiece opened to the public in 1893 as “the most technically perfect theatre in Canada.” With a balcony, it could accommodate 900 guests who could marvel at the proscenium arch and beautiful ceiling. It looked like it belonged in a major city. Three coal furnaces heated the building, which had to be tended continuously, requiring a couple to live in a third-floor apartment. Legend has it that the lady fell down the stairs, died and lives on as “Mary,” a friendly ghost. When something unexpected happens—a door closes, the lights dim, or something goes missing—is it Mary’s doing?
In its early years, the Academy Theatre became known for its stage performances such as vaudeville and local performers. Over the years many well known performers graced its stage: Sammy Davis Jr.; the Marx Brothers; and Marie Dressler, who performed for an audience for the first time, at age 5, in a play her mother staged. The first silent movies appeared in 1918, then talkies a few years later—long before other communities in the area. Motion pictures were revolutionary and soon became one of the most popular forms of family entertainment. By the 1930s, the Academy was primarily operating as a movie theatre. Because it was such an early cinema, early projectors became interesting museum pieces, at Highlands Cinemas and the Ontario Science Centre.
The Academy was a beautiful theatre for its time and had been designed for stage productions. But as movies became the predominant media, purpose-built movie theatres began to appear in other communities. When Century Cinemas opened a few blocks away on Kent Street, the Academy struggled, as the new competitor was better suited to show films. It continued to host Kiwanis Music Festivals and a few live performances, then closed in 1956 and demolition was considered.
In 1963, the newly created Academy Theatre Foundation purchased the beautiful old theatre for $18,000. President Dr. Bill Service and many committed volunteers raised another $40,000 to modernize the building, improving the lobby, offices and stage—including the apron and new lights. With a new heating system, the old coal fired furnaces could be retired. Starting in 1965, it became home to the Kawartha Summer Theatre. That summer Dennis and Maggie Sweeting put on Summer Stock, as audiences came to love these new performances. Guitarist Tommy Hunter, a celebrity from CBC’s Country Hoedown, performed at the Academy Theatre each Friday evening for approximately three summers.
In the 1960s, many families began to acquire their first televisions, then as home movies and digital streaming became nearly universal, going to watch a motion picture lost some of its novelty. Many movie theatres began to struggle. As new generations grew up watching videos, going to watch a live show became something special, just as the first silent movies were to kids of a generation past who were more familiar with live performances, like the public school Christmas pageant. The Academy Theatre came full circle, created for live performances it continues to serve that purpose. Over the years, many local kids’ first appearances on a theatre stage came at the “Grand Old Lady” at the foot of Kent Street.
