Harmony House Theatre celebrating 10th season in business

When Melanie and Kris Taylor bought the former Hunter River United Church with plans to transform it into a performance venue, they already had fond memories of the building.

They were married there. Three of their four kids were baptized there, and now they're celebrating 10 seasonsof operating the Harmony House Theatre there.

"It's very hard to believe. It's hard to believe we opened the door on July 8, 2008 and this makes it the tenth summer in operation," said Taylor.

Guided by passion

Taylor said the couple knewthey wanted to start their own business and jumped at the chance to buy the former united church. Once they owned the space, they let their passion and talents guide the direction of the business.

"That is what drew us to this ideaand we thought the Hunter River area could use something inthecultural realm."

The first show performed in the 140-seat theatre in 2008was a family show, but Taylor said she recallslining up people like Richard Woods and Matt Minglewood to play that summer as well.

Great performers at venue

"We've had a lot of great people. I must say we've been really lucky to be ableto attract the type of performers that we have had."

Taylor said one of her all-time favourite eveningsat the venue was whenSteven Page, formerly of the Barenaked Ladies, stopped by on a pub night and ended up sharing the stage withsound technician and musician,JonMatthews, who was also a huge fan of the band.

"It ended up being a Jon Matthews and Stephen Page show until 3 a.m., and everybody who was lucky enough to be there was just in awe of this. It just turned into something really magical and spectacular."

Planning more events

Taylor said they'd love to have performers likeDavid Myles and Rose Cousins come back to perform but because of their smaller size and the artists' popularity, it isn't possible.

"I'd love to haveJim Cuddycome and play and that almost happened once."

Taylor said during the 10 years since they opened, they have done a lot of things by trial and error and changed things that weren't working well.

Taylor said they plan on expanding the art gallery and opening the space to more events including weddings and business meetings.

"We want to just keep rolling with what's working well and just keep events flowing and we really need to do that to survive."

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