Classic Theatre Festival Nominated for 2010 New Company of the Year by Ottawa Tourism

May 5, 2011, PERTH – As the Classic Theatre Festival prepares to launch its exciting second season of professional summer theatre in Perth, Artistic Producer Laurel Smith will be off to Ottawa on May 12 for an acknowledgement of the company’s success in its 2010 inaugural season. That evening, the new Ottawa Convention Centre will play host to Ottawa Tourism’s annual awards dinner, where the Classic Theatre Festival will be among the nominees in the Best New Company category.

”A big part of our mandate with the Festival is to promote Perth, Lanark County, and Eastern Ontario as a destination of choice, and we were thrilled to find out we were nominated as best new company by one of the province’s largest tourism organizations,” says Smith, who notes the Festival last year drew some 3,700 visitors, over 70% of them tourists.

The Festival currently engages in a wide range of marketing and community outreach activities designed to attract visitors, from the distribution of some 50,000 season brochures that highlight upcoming plays as well as Perth accommodations, restaurants, and shopping experiences, to television spots on U.S. PBS television stations. In addition to cross-promotion with local events such as the Garlic and Stewart Park Festivals, the CTF is also organizing of a wide range of community nights intended to benefit local and regional groups and service clubs.

Among the CTF’s new outreach tools this year is an online booking engine hosted by Ottawa Tourism, which will encourage those who are already Ottawa-bound on girlfriends’ getaways, family trips, and celebration vacations, to either stop in for a day in Perth on their way or, alternatively, to take the short one hour journey to Perth during the course of their Ottawa vacation.

“The National Capital Region has a lot to offer, but just outside the reach of Ottawa is this magical area of wilderness, heritage, and arts and culture, and the Classic Theatre Festival is proud to be a part of what we feel is a growing effort to promote this area as a place where people might want to spend a day, a weekend, a vacation, or even move here,” says Smith, who is also active as a board member with the Perth Chamber of Commerce and the newly-formed Ontario Highlands Tourism Organization. Earlier this year, Smith completed and presented to Perth Town Council on behalf of the Chamber a major report that focused on promoting tourism as a critical economic driver for the town and region.

Summer Season Upcoming

After the awards ceremony on May 12, Smith returns to a busy schedule of preparation for the summer season, which will feature the bewitching romantic comedy, “Bell, Book and Candle,” playing July 8-31, and the comedic chronicle of a marriage, “The Fourposter,” from August 5-28. Both shows are at a new venue this year, the Mason Theatre, a wheelchair-accessible facility with free parking, located at Perth & District Collegiate, 13 Victoria Street in Perth.

Theatregoers have only a few more weeks to take advantage of the Festival’s Early Bird Special, a 10% discount on all tickets bought by May 31 (those who do so will receive a voucher redeemable for the dates of their choice closer to summer). Tickets can be ordered at 1-877-283-1283, online at www.classictheatre.ca, or in person at Tickets Please, 39 Foster Street.

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This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural
Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the
Ministry of Tourism and Culture, administered by the Ontario Cultural
Attractions Fund Corporation.