.png){kind=logo}
Grand Theatre marks Record-setting, milestone Year with 2024/25 Season: A Time for Play
New artistic and executive leadership deliver Operating Surplus, Artist Development, and Full Houses
December 1, 2025 – London ON – The Grand Theatre’s 2024/25 Season, A Time for Play, delivered new artistic vision with Rachel Peake’s first programmed season as Artistic Director and new executive leadership through Lyndee Hansen’s first full season as Executive Director. Season subscriptions soared to a ten-year high of more than 6,000 packages sold, and the year’s annual holiday musical spectacular, The Sound of Music, set a record as the highest selling (revenue) show in the Grand Theatre’s history.
“A Time For Play was centered around the idea of joy, highlighting theatre as a place for pleasure, and guaranteeing connections: with characters, with stories, with other theatregoers,” shares Peake. “Audiences rocked out with Shakespeare and The Beatles, twirled through the Austrian mountainside, cracked the code of double-crossing thieves, saw a mother and daughter reach new understandings, discovered ‘what baking can do’, and played the game of love with Lizzy, Mr. Darcy, and the rest of the Bennets.”
At the 2024/25 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today, Hansen announced a year of financial success, marked by a $94,111 surplus. “In a theatre season defined by attracting both existing and new audiences, diversification and modest growth of funding streams, as well as navigating ongoing inflation, the Grand has made enormous strides in financial stability,“ states Hansen.
The AGM was held at the theatre and attended by members of the Grand’s Board of Directors, donors, sponsors, volunteers, and staff.
“The 2024/25 season saw a major turnaround financially that has put the company into a surplus position, a remarkable result that underscores the effectiveness of strong leadership, prudent management, and community support,” shares Matt Parr, Chair of the Grand Theatre Board of Directors. “This success was driven by record ticket sales, strong fund development, and the resounding success of the 2025 Grand Gala.”
Under Peake’s leadership, new artist development initiatives were unveiled and had their first season of impact. Artists in the Auburn offered an enriching lineup of four workshops, a speaker series, and the first annual Cascade Playwrights’ Lab, which culminated in a public reading on the Auburn Stage. 91 emerging and local artists gathered for events in the series, and 19 emerging playwrights developed their work in the first annual Cascade Playwrights’ Lab cohort.
This season also launched the 2025-2029 Strategic Plan, and the Grand Theatre’s inaugural Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation (EDI-R) Action Plan. The Grand continues to offer successful and in-demand access programs including Pay-What-You-Can, Open Captioned, Relaxed, and ASL-interpreted performances, as well as the new Indigenous Community Ticket Program.
2024/25 SEASON OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
- The Grand held 175 performances and sold 97,587 tickets to the 2024/25 Grand Theatre Season, including six Spriet Stage productions, a High School Project musical, and six Jeans ‘n Classics performances.
- Ticket sales accounted for 52% of earned revenue, contributing $ 4.8M to the budget.
- 164 guest artists from across Canada created unforgettable theatre experiences – 42 from London, 75 from Ontario, 47 from other provinces and territories.
- 122 production and technical staff brought theatre magic to life.
- 141 volunteers contributed a total of 10,363 hours.
- The Grand Theatre continued its practice of offering diverse youth initiatives, including the Grand Theatre High School Project, which completed its 27th year. The 2024/25 Season boasted record attendance at Student Club, which saw over 200 students at Thursday preview performances of the Spriet Series. Student Matinees once again welcomed London and area schools to most productions on the Spriet Stage, helping 4,673 students experience live theatre — many for the first time.
- The Grand Theatre’s 32nd annual Holiday Wish for Kids offered a magical evening at the theatre for 300 children from 35 agencies.
The Grand Theatre is grateful to all of its partners, including the year-over-year support of BMO, Old Oak Properties, TD Bank and Canada Life, and truly appreciates subscribers, ticket buyers, sponsors, donors, staff, artists, and volunteers for their roles in spreading Grand joy throughout downtown London, and far beyond. The Grand thanks staff, artists, and volunteers for all their dedication and hard work to help make the season a success on all fronts.
-30-
The Grand Theatre is located on the traditional territories of the Original storytellers and caretakers of this land and the Nations, both settler and Indigenous, who continue to uphold the various treaties of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, and Lunaapéewak. We value the significant historical and contemporary contributions of local and regional First Nations, and all of the Original Peoples of Turtle Island (colonially known as North America), and acknowledge the traditional lands upon which we live, work, share, and tell stories together.
ABOUT THE GRAND THEATRE – WORLD CURIOUS. LONDON MADE.
The Grand Theatre is known for world-class theatre created and built in London, Ontario. As southwestern Ontario’s premier producing theatre and one of the most beautiful theatre spaces in Canada, the company has deep ties to the community and to its artists, artisans, and technicians.
As a vibrant cultural hub and not-for-profit professional theatre, the Grand serves to gather, inspire, and entertain audiences in London and beyond. At our home in downtown London, we create productions on two stages: the Spriet Stage (839 seats) and the Auburn Developments Stage (144 seats). The Grand season of theatrical offerings runs from September to May, and we collaborate with companies and artists across the country through our co-productions that see London-made artistic and creative work travel to audiences nation-wide. Through our successful New Play Development Program, the Grand is committed to developing and premiering new, original works and supporting the growth and reach of theatre writers and creators. Our recently renovated venue offers a contemporary and welcoming environment that is also home to several successful music series’, community arts rentals, and cultural and special events.
A cornerstone of the organization is our place as a teaching theatre, exemplified in our many mentorship programs and highlighted in our annual Grand Theatre High School Project. As the first program of its kind in the country and currently in its twenty-seventh year, the High School Project involves as many as one hundred high school participants annually from schools across the region. These students participate at no cost and take on roles both on stage and off, in a fully realized mainstage production under the direction of a professional creative team.
For more information, visit: grandtheatre.com.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, BlueSky and TikTok.
For more information please contact:
Melissa Mae Shipley, Communications and Public Relations Manager
mshipley [at] grandtheatre.com (mshipley[at]grandtheatre[dot]com)
office: 519-672-9030 ext. 266
cell: 519-280-4008
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Grand Theatre’s 2024/25 Annual Report is available online at https://www.grandtheatre.com/2024-25-annual-report
