The meeting is set to be held on Monday at the Caroline Bay Hall and will start at 5.30pm.
Meeting organiser and South Canterbury Drama League board member Chris Thomas said he called the public meeting to give people a chance to have their say and to clarify some of the narratives and myth surrounding the project.
"The decision made by the Timaru District Council to abandon the Theatre Royal and heritage hub project considerably blindsided theatre people and a lot of the public that also were expecting that project to go ahead," Mr Thomas said.
"I first started consulting on this in 2018 so it’s been six years. I don’t know how many meetings or submissions I’ve had on it so we thought after a long time there had been a really good design worked up.
"OK, it didn’t give everyone everything but it was what it was. It had been costed and it was a largely fixed-fee cost. There were some small contingencies but they were well known and we had that government money.
"It was surprising to have that result and to have it made because councillors said they didn’t have enough money or trust the figures. They just created a firestorm of reaction and I felt the public needed a way to actually have their voice heard."
He said the public reaction so far had been very positive and the interest had led to a venue change.
"It’s really engaged people — they’ve sent lots of support. We were originally going to have it at Movie Max [Cinema] but we decided after getting significant support we’d move it to the Caroline Bay Hall.
"In the end, you don’t know how many people are going to turn up but I’m pretty sure it will be well attended."
He said there would be structure to the meeting but there would also be the opportunity for anyone to have their say.
The meeting will be livestreamed and uploaded online to a public platform for those unable to attend in person.
