Renovations and fees cause drama

Startime Players has been using the City Hall twice a year, for over 40 years, to stage their shows.

According to Vivian McDonald, spokesperson for Startime Players, the hall was closed in early 2014 for renovations.

“Every year the rates would increase, but the state of the hall would decrease,” she said.

The organisation managed to avoid the annual rises in rent for the halls, through negotiations and because they are an NPO.

Startime Players staged both their 2014 events at the All Souls Church, on O’Reilly Merry Street, and will continue using it this year, but the hall is much smaller and less well equipped than the city hall, limiting the shows.

The Rotary Club of Benoni Van Ryn presents an annual event called HobbiTech, at the John Barrable Hall in Northmead, but the price for the hall has risen too much in the past few years, forcing the club to cancel the fund-raiser.

Neil Murray, spokesperson for the Rotary Club of Benoni Van Ryn, said they have received several offers to host

HobbiTech in other halls, but as the event needs six months of planning, it won’t be occurring in 2015.

Protea Stage Productions has held two shows a year in the Benoni City Hall throughout most of the society’s 45 years of existence, but they were forced to look for alternative venues when the hall was closed for renovations in early 2014.

Prior to the closure, they reported, annual increases in the rent of the hall led them to consider other venues.

“For 2014, the municipality wanted to triple the rental for the hall; as an NPO we would receive a 50 per cent discount, but this would still be too much for us to cover,” said Bob Stone, chairman of Protea Stage Productions.

Since the hall’s closure, the organisation has staged shows at various schools in Benoni.

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality was approached for comment, but none had been received at the time of going to press.