Ghosts of The LaSalle Theatre

Kirkland Lake

Experience Hosted by Michael Rawley

1-2 hours • Hosted in English

Ghosts of The LaSalle Theatre

What We’ll Do

All theatres have a ghost. Or, at least, they should. Well, The LaSalle Theatre is blessed. We have 6 – 8 ghosts and spirits (there is a difference) in the theatre. Come with me – Michael Rawley – raconteur and Managing Artistic Director of the theatre – on this entertaining and informative tour of our theatre and it’s otherworldly residents.

In this online 40 minute experience, you will be taken on an interactive tour of the building and it’s residents. You will hear their stories and how we found out they were in residence. You will be asked about your personal experiences with the other world. Your belief or lack thereof will be affirmed, changed perhaps – tested even. Maybe you will find out that you have ‘the gift’ and can sense their presence. Full disclosure: I, Michael Rawley, can’t – to my constant chagrin.

This tour is fully approved by our residents. I know because, through a medium, I asked their permission and was granted it. See you at the theatre.

Other Details

Length

1-2 hours

Ages

All ages welcome

Maximum Number of Guests

10

Testimonials

"101 Experiences Ghosts of the LaSalle Theatre hosted by Michael Rawley, was an exploration of what we transcend when demands of our lives eclipse what we used to wonder about. As Michael shares in his presentation, everyone knows, theatres have their own spirits. Restless souls choose, some are condemned, to stay behind in this world. In the walls, pipes and furniture they take their place among our many undisturbed artifacts. Who among us has not seen those faces? You know, instant faces that come out of patterns of light and shadows? See how they are before us in one moment; looking out through shadow eyes, past a brightened bridge of a nose, cheek and brow highlight, only a moment later to recede back into the mass familiar without an enduring trace? A sea of ghosts. Michael's appeal to us, in the Theater Lobby, is to be alert to that wisp of recognition. Here we may see one, as it transverses, many layers deep, inside the LaSalle's Lobby infinite mirror. Maybe not today. With Mike, we climb steep, narrow stairs to view out over the theater seats. We hear another tale, this time of an apparition of icicles forming in this wintry theater. For real. Not so long ago. Mike guides us back down indigo steps, here to sit comfortably by the stage, to meet the 8 benevolent souls who still call The LaSalle, home. Gratefully. There are only a few places here and there where the 'Not so Happy Set' lurk. Content to idle a portion of their impending eternity, their seething anger binds them on to this world for longingly. I must ask. Are ages of contempt for us preferable to a slip and then an instant of eternal rebuke? Michael retrieves every one of us from that cold abandoned doorway. Our guide gently shepherds us back to a place by the stage. We are safe and secure. Thank you Michael, for a wonderful and enriching experience!"

Meet your host, Michael Rawley

My name is Michael Rawley and I am the Managing Artistic Director of The LaSalle Theatre and the charity SaveTheLaSalle here in Kirkland Lake. I have had a 42-year career in the theatre as an actor and theatre artist. My career has taken me all across Canada, the USA and Europe. My claims to fame are playing SCAR in Disney’s The Lion King in Toronto and on the American National Tour and performing the role of SCROOGE in A Christmas Carol every Christmas for 13 years now – all across Canada. This passion has been with me my whole life since the age of three when I sat in my family’s seats at The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto watching every show that came to town. My grandfather Ernest Rawley, you see, was the General Manager of the Royal so, you could say, I went into the family business. And here we are today. I mentor young actors in The LaSalle Theatre Company through our very successful Shakespeare in the Park series and many other productions in the theatre. I am passionately committed to achieving the restoration of the LaSalle back to its original 1939 opening night glory and giving the town of Kirkland Lake the beautiful jewel of a theatre this district deserves as the premier arts centre of North Eastern Ontario.