Ground has broken on upgrades for the Mulgrave Road Theatre Centre for the Arts in Guysborough County.

The $6.4 million in upgrades will include the gutting of the current building, a former NSLC in Guysborough, with the addition of an art gallery space, administrative offices, dressing rooms, and a backstage area with washrooms. Behind the building they will add a 2,200 square foot space. Emmy Alcorn, artistic director for Mulgrave Road Theatre, said the new space will be what they call a black box theatre, with retractable seating for 75 people.

Alcorn said the price tag on the work is around $6.4 million, with money coming from fundraising, the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, and donors. She said it was designed to be a net zero facility.

Photo left to right: Murray Tate, Tate Engineering Inc., Warden Vernon Pitts, Municipality of the District of Guysborough, Emmy Alcorn, Artistic Director, Mulgrave Road Theatre, Mike Kelloway, Member of Parliament Cape Breton – Canso, Honourable Greg Morrow, MLA Guysborough-Tracadie, Rene Cox, Iron Maple Construction, David Gallaugher, Solterre Design, Dr. Barb Bell, Chair, Mulgrave Road Theatre
Photo Credit: Hilary Hendsbee Photography

A release from the theatre group states in 2016 the Board of Directors identified the need for proper infrastructure as a high priority for the organization. Planning began in late 2018 when Mulgrave Road Theatre contracted Solterre Design to create a functional use study, followed by a design. Iron Maple Constructors won the bidding process and Tate Engineering Inc. serves as the project management team.  

In a release, Mulgrave Road Theatre thanked the federal and provincial governments as well as the Municipality of the District of Guysborough for their support, as well as all of the donors.

Construction on the facility is set to wrap up in the summer of 2026.