Paulu: Theater renovation deserves a standing O
Monday, November 24, 2008 1:18 PM PST
Printable version
E-mail this articleColumn by Tom Paulu
Features reporter
Through there was no singing, dancing or champagne in the lobby, a sparsely attended meeting of an obscure board was something to celebrate in the local arts and entertainment scene.
After years of study and debate, the show is really going forward to remodel the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.
The turning point came Nov. 12, when the Cowlitz County Public Facilities District awarded a $7.1 million contract to Berschauer Phillips Construction of Tumwater for the work to start next month.
The theater will get a much larger lobby, more bathrooms and new seats.
With applications for more grants from public and private sources still in the works, there’s a good chance the 1925 theater will also get new dressing rooms, better lighting and audio systems and an air conditioner (if you’ve ever sweated through a summer show, you’ll know why).
The total cost may top $10 million.
By the way, the $810,000 from Cowlitz County is a loan that will be paid back with interest as funding from other sources arrives. The main local public funding is $1.5 million from the city of Longview, earmarked when times were better.
Theater-lovers had good timing indeed to get the majority of the money — about $6 million from sales tax — from the state Legislature last year. With the current economic woes, legislators wouldn’t look as kindly upon funding for a theater, historic or not.
What’s even more remarkable is that the Columbia Theatre renovation comes the same year the community got a new $24.5 million performing arts center at Lower Columbia College, which has a 500-seat hall for music, a 125-seat hall for drama and a rehearsal space that also can be used for performances.
Some people will object to all those millions of dollars being spent for the arts in a community with various chronic social woes: high unemployment, lots of sexually transmitted diseases, a meth plague, etc., etc.
However, agencies and foundations that dole out money for the arts recognize their value. If much of the money hadn’t gone to theaters here, it would go to similar projects some place else, not for STD education or jobs programs.
And it’s valuable for the community to have some elegant buildings it can boast of. A second Wal-Mart isn’t exactly a community jewel.
Once all the new plaster dries at the CTPA, which will reopen in 2010, the next challenge will be filling all those new seats and those at LCC.
If anything, audiences are shrinking for local groups like the Southwest Washington Symphony and Community Concerts.
The area’s highest-quality theater group, Longview Stageworks, quit doing shows last spring and most theater insiders doubt that it will ever come back. Another community theater group, Cascade Players, also is inactive, and the Southwest Washington Youth Symphony doesn’t have enough students for performances this year.
It’s not just the economy.
Much has changed since the Columbia Theatre was built 83 years ago. Today, the Internet, TV and movies all compete for people’s time and entertainment money.
However, arts lovers are a passionate lot, and new groups are likely to sprout up, especially if they can look forward to new halls to perform in.
Eventually, the “build it and they will come” adage will prove true for the trio of new or improved theaters.
Remember that it took a few years for the Columbia Theatre to get going after it was saved from the wrecking ball in 1980. In recent years, more than 40,000 people a year have attended events there.
Originally published Nov. 23, 2008.
Other recent Tom Paulu columns:
'East Village' gave a glimpse of opera's future (Oct. 9)
Fueling big trucks' extinction (July 6)
Past Month's Most Commented Stories