Ste. Anne hopeful for a Rex revival

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Ste. Anne de Bellevue is making a pitch to rejuvenate an aging, iconic symbol in the heart of its village.

The lakefront town requested a government cultural grant last week to help the idle Rex Theatre rise from the ashes.

The mayor said the city is also prepared to field offers from private investors interested in revitalizing the historic Ste. Anne Street site.

However, major stumbling blocks of any project in the dilapidated, city-owned building are repair costs.

A Ste. Anne spokesman said damage left in the wake of a flood that swept through the building a few years back is estimated at close to $1 million.

Still, Ste. Anne Mayor Bill Tierney remains optimistic that the Rex can be turned into a “multipurpose cultural space.” “We’re still hoping to find some inspiration for bringing the building back to life,” he said. “Maybe we’ll find somebody interested in spearheading the revival of the Rex.”

City spokesman Karl Sacha Langlois said under Quebec’s new government, assistance could be difficult to obtain.

Langlois described the theatre’s condition as “pretty messed up.” “For us there’s nothing we can do with it,” he said of the Rex. “We don’t have the money to support that kind of project.”

He said Ste. Anne has talked to interested parties about the project, but the building’s condition scared them away. “When they see the inside everybody gets discouraged,” he said. “You have to gut it out. It smells like hell.”

Retired John Abbott College film professor Murray Napier was part of a committee of locals aiming to save the Rex.

Last July, a group of performers, including Napier, put on three shows at different venues in support of reviving the Rex. “There is no real performance space in the West Island,” the Baie d’Urfé resident said. “And here, right on main street, you’ve got a little theatre. It would be a terrific place for a lot of groups that would be interested.”

Napier said the theatre could be used for plays, films and even as an art gallery. “It’s an incredible opportunity if somebody had the money to do it, and the will,” he said.

Meanwhile, John Abbott film professor Ryan Young said the Rex started showing silent films and vaudeville performances in 1922.

It showed movies up until the late 1990s,

he said. “It’s a great landmark,” the Ste. Anne resident said. “It really kind of elevates people’s knowledge of history.”