Pacific Theatre announces departure from historic Chalmers building due to structural issues

Company to pause programming starting January 2026 while the Holy Trinity Anglican Church fixes water damage and mould in the 1912 site

By emily lyth

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, a Vancouver heritage building, houses Pacific Theatre’s intimate space in its basement. Photo by Bob Hare

PACIFIC THEATRE IS SET to leave its long-time home in the former Chalmers Presbyterian Church basement this December, after three decades of staging intimate productions there.

In an announcement today, the organization cited the declining state of the Vancouver heritage building now owned and operated by the Holy Trinity Anglican Church—which needs more than $500,000 worth of major structural upgrades—as the reason for its upcoming departure. As such, Pacific Theatre will pause all programming effective January 2026.

Lilac Bosma, who has been board chair of Pacific Theatre since 2021, told Stir by phone today that the company learned of the building’s issues last fall. The degrading structure has been affected by water ingress (moisture from exterior sources gradually penetrating walls, ceilings, and floors, causing them to become damp), which has now led to high levels of mould in Pacific Theatre’s backstage area.

“We would definitely love to stay making theatre in that great little space,” Bosma said. “Everyone recognizes that it is an artistically challenging and special place that sort of adds to the charm of the work that we do. However, right now, there’s just too many unknowns to be able to plan confidently into the future.”

The church sits on the corner of West 12th Avenue and Hemlock Street (just before Granville). It opened to the public in August 1912 and then closed in the 1990s because of a declining population in the area. The neoclassical structure was designed by architects Samuel Buttrey Birds and Edward Evans Blackmore, with a brick exterior recognizable by its central dome, massive columns, and ornate pediments (the triangular shapes above its entrances).

Holy Trinity is now the building’s landlord, while Pacific Theatre and the South Granville Senior Centre are tenants. Bosma says Pacific Theatre is hoping to return to the space after Holy Trinity completes the necessary upgrades, but that plan has yet to be confirmed.

Pacific Theatre’s 2024–25 season will conclude when Katherine Gauthier’s play Meeting, a critically lauded performance that immerses audiences in a sex- and love-addicts support meeting, wraps on June 7. Starting this September, a 2025 mini season will take place. So far, it’s set to feature a mainstage production, a film screening and panel discussion, and the annual Christmas Presence show; expect an announcement with more details in the next few weeks.

“We decided to try to end this version of our company in a step-by-step way, and in a graceful way that actually will really help our patrons and artists—our community—by doing our mini season in the fall,” Bosma said. “So there will be some basic repairs done over the summer to allow us to continue to do the work in the fall.”

Those repairs include remediation for the water ingress and mould backstage. The air quality of the space will be tested afterwards to ensure it’s safe for the mini season to continue as planned. Also of concern for Pacific Theatre is the size of the alley-style basement theatre, which seats just 128 audience members on either side of a central stage. Additionally, there are restrictions on the number of performances permitted each week, owing to sound-bleeding concerns from the church and senior centre. A press statement released today says those challenges have “hampered PT’s ability to increase revenue”. Bosma told Stir that the company is in discussions with its landlord about adjusting some of those restrictions, should it reoccupy the Chalmers building.

Over the coming months, Bosma added, Pacific Theatre will be seeking additional funding and working toward a decision about its future—whether that be awaiting Chalmers upgrades, reimagining its operational model, or seeking a potential new home. Conversations with Holy Trinity about necessary changes have been positive so far, the board chair said.

It is uncertain how long the company’s programming pause will last. In the meantime, its staff will scale down to just artistic director Kaitlin Williams and executive director Jennie George, who will continue planning alongside the board of directors. Upgrades to the Chalmers building are expected to continue through 2026. “Obviously, it’s been a very challenging process that we’ve been going through with the board and the staff, because we love the theatre,” Bosma acknowledged.

The plan for a hiatus comes after a series of hits at Pacific Theatre—from Ins Choi’s premiere of Son of a Preacherman to Will Eno’s surreal Middletown. “We’ve had a lot of both artistic and commercial success in the last couple of seasons,” Bosma said. “You know, the audience is back and the community is vibrant. So obviously it’s very challenging to have to make a decision like this when you are gaining momentum artistically and commercially.

“And that’s kind of why we decided we needed to be very strategic about making the decision, because we really want to keep that momentum,” she continued. “We want to keep our artistic vision. We want to continue to make theatre that matters and be a place of real support for the theatre community in Vancouver. So I’m actually feeling really optimistic now. We’ve had an outpouring of support. We’re really seeing how deep the support goes for Pacific Theatre in Vancouver. I feel certain that we will come out of this situation stronger and even more vibrant. And I feel like this decision is necessary in order to ensure that we have that vibrant future.”  

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