Montreal’s Centaur Theatre Improves Accessibility With Donated Elevator

The Centaur Theatre, Montreal’s oldest English-language theatre, is, for the first time in 56 years, now accessible to mobility-impaired patrons. Located in Old Montreal, The Centaur Theatre recently installed a street-level access elevator, which allows those who use a wheelchair or a walker or have other mobility issues to enter the building with ease thanks to the generosity of donator Marisa Testa, an avid theater-audience member. Testa donated the lift in honor of her late husband, Tiziano Giacomini, who died 22 years ago at the early age of 44, and her brother, who has spent the last five years in a wheelchair. Testa said the couple loved coming to the theater together and that “[Giacomini] loved to help people, and this helps people…It means even more that it is something that will help people with accessibility issues.”

An iconic Quebec institution, the theater is a heritage building, meaning the five large front steps could not be altered. The federal and provincial governments recently announced they would be investing CAD$6.2 million (US$4.4 million) to help upgrade the theatre’s infrastructure, including improving the accessibility of the main entrance. The Centaur Theatre’s Artistic and Executive Director, Eda Holmes says the theater has been trying to find a solution for the inaccessible front steps for a while. Holmes said, “The goal of Centaur Theatre is to be the theater for all of Montreal, and that includes people with mobility issues.” The donated elevator was installed in October, and Holmes says that it has been used before every single show, even allowing a former board chair who hadn’t been able to access the venue for the past three years to reenter the historic theater.