Folk Night at The Registry has been presenting the best of Canadian and international folk music since Eileen McGann launched our first show in October 2006. Our list of performers has included The Ennis Sisters, Peter Yarrow, Sylvia Tyson, Ron Hynes, Christine Lavin, Tom Chapin, Shari Ulrich, Archie Fisher, Lynn Miles, James Keelaghan, Genticorum, Dave Gunning, Dala, Lennie Gallant, Maria Dunn, Bill Staines, Valdy, Windborne, Penny Lang, Joe Crookston, Ian Tamblyn, and many, many more. We have also produced tribute shows to Harry Chapin and Stan Rogers. We team up with The Registry staff to present an annual Roots Weekend, with additional concerts and workshops.

The series is presented by The Old Chestnuts Song Circle lead by Jack Cole, which has been encouraging community singing since 1995. We are renowned as an avid listening audience as well as a “singing audience”, and performers who can exploit a room full of singers have a delightful time. We often warm up the audience with a song or round. Members of the Song Circle make up the all-volunteer crew.

We pay expenses, including SOCAN fees, and a small honouarium to the technical team, after which proceeds of the concerts go to the performers, with a smaller percentage to the community owned Registry Theatre, as a donation to help fund the theatre’s community programmes, such as dance, drama, and children’s programming. Through the years, Folk Night has been the most consistently successful series at The Registry, and most Folk Night shows are sold out well in advance.

The Registry Theatre is located in a heritage Art Deco building, the former Land Registry Office, at 122 Frederick Street, near Weber St. in downtown Kitchener. There is a small parking area for performers and crew behind the theatre that is accessed by a driveway to the immediate left of the building. A back door off of this lot leads into the theatre, making it the best place to unload; the stage is then up a half flight of stairs, entering stage right. There is a large green room with a single washroom a half flight down; this space is shared with our live stream crew and equipment. The usual (smaller) green room is stage left. (There is also a large city parking lot to the left of the driveway, intended for patrons.)

The auditorium has tiered seating in 10 rows of individually moveable chairs. Maximum capacity is about 160. The stage area is very large, making setup for multiple performers and multiple instruments very flexible. The merchandise table is set up in the lobby beside the auditorium. The small green room has direct access to this lobby. A larger green room downstairs has a private washroom and changing area.

Acoustics in The Registry are excellent, as are the sight lines. These things, combined with the intimate size, provide the best audience experience in the Region.

The theatre’s phone number is 519-745-6565, but there is not usually anyone answering that phone on concert days. Use the phone number for Jack provided with your contract/offer.

Performers requiring accommodations will be staying at the Green Gables Guest House, .75 km from The Registry at 189 Queen St. N. in Kitchener. Your hosts, Len and Jennifer, are musicians themselves, have day jobs in music, and have built a studio space, primarily for ukulele lessons and sessions, above the triple garage. They also support and sponsor Folk Night. Guests have raved about their experience at Green Gables. You can read some of their comments in the Testimonials section, below.

The number of rooms held for you is specified in the contract/offer. Performers are requested to check in before coming to the theatre, if possible. Please confirm your arrival time and any special requests with Green Gables by email ([email protected]) or phone (519-579-5539). Please realize that Green Gables is counting on the arrangements that we have made for you, and any changes will be impactful and may not be able to be accommodated. Guest rooms are on the second floor of the House; stairs are necessary. Parking and entrance are at the rear of the building.

The following is a rough outline of the timing on the day of one of our concerts.

• 12:30 Live Stream and sound crew begin setup
• 3:30 Performers arrive at theatre (having checked in at B & B already)
• 4:00 Interview for Live Stream
• 4:30 Sound, lighting, and video checks
• 5:30 Supper at the theatre
• 6:45 Doors open
• 7:30 Introductions (and Audience warmup)
• 7:40 Set 1
• 8:30 Intermission
• 8:50 Approximate, Set 2
• 9:50 Approximate, end of show

The Folk Night team has been Live Streaming concerts since 2022, when we re-launched our series with a reduced theatre capacity. Our team uses five PTZ cameras mounted throughout the theatre to capture the action on stage without limiting your stage layout or movement. Our sound engineer runs a separate audio mix for the home audience that faithfully reproduces the live sound in the theatre, including the voices of our singing audience. Jan Vanderhorst the host of Just Us Folk, a 40+ year old radio and streaming programme, agreed to interview our performers for the Live Stream intermission. For streaming we selected the YouTube Live platform, which allows viewers to easily pause and resume the show, or even watch later. During the Live Stream they can also interact with each other and our host.

All of these measures have produced a live show that is second to none, and brings added bonuses beyond the in-person experience. Performers are welcome to share the Live Stream with anyone they designate, and a copy of the show is made available to the performer within a couple of weeks of the concert, for their personal use. Most importantly to us, the Live Stream has allowed many of our loyal audience members, who are unable to attend concerts in the post-Covid era, to remain a vital part of our community.

A benefit to the performers is, of course, the added revenue the online shows can bring. But more subtle is the option for people holding in-person tickets to switch over to the live stream, when they are unable to attend the concert. For any given show up to 15% of our audience switches their tickets to online. Thus patrons do not miss a show that they had been anticipating, and this guarantee gives them more confidence to purchase tickets in the first place. Plus we are able to re-sell their seats when we have a waiting list. This all creates additional income for the performers, satisfies our patrons, reduces empty seats, and eliminates bothersome ticket refunds in the busy days before a concert.

Our live shows have been watched across Canada and internationally. Performers have even sent them back home to family when on an extended tour. They have also used them to promote upcoming events, and as sources of video material for their own projects.