2008 Woodie Awards
Varsity Theatre now "playing"
Stage Company hopes to have renovated theater ready by fall
Barton Lorimor
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Even after their building was condemned and demolished, directors of Jackson County Stage Company promised audiences thrills to come.
Three years later, the program's director, Cathy Field, jingled keys to the Varsity Theatre, which means those thrills could be a few months, and a few million dollars, away.
The vacated movie theater complex on South Illinois Avenue was donated to the city and The Stage Company by Kerasotes Showplace Theatres on Friday. The complex will become the Varsity Center for the Arts and the new home for the displaced performers.
Until January 2005, The Stage Company had been renting a building at 101 N. Washington Square from its neighbor, the Bank of Carbondale, for $1 a year since 1983. The building, constructed in 1875, was demolished after city officials declared it unsafe.
The donation of the Varsity Theatre was announced during the State of the City address in December.
"We are very thankful to the Kerasotes family for their support of our efforts to make the Varsity Theatre a centerpiece for our downtown entertainment district," Cole said in a prepared statement.
Field said the donation was also made possible by two SIU presidents. Former President John Guyon and current President Glenn Poshard, as well as their spouses, contributed to the mayor's work, which began more than a year ago, she said.
The Stage Company has a lot of work to do, Cole said. Field agreed and said she would be calling in all of the company's favors to get it done in time for the start of the fall season of shows in October.
"We're prepared to take the time to do it right," she said.
Shortly after the deal was done, Jack Langowski, a board member for The Stage Company, gave a tour of the Varsity. The theater houses three auditoriums, an arcade room, a manager's office, restrooms and a lobby with a snack bar. Apart from water damage caused by leaky ceilings and nearly 70 years of wear, Langowski said the building's heaters need to be replaced.
Renovation of the east theater is the next step in the company's four-phase project. The entire renovation should ring up an estimated cost of $2.5 million, Field said. Fred Betz, a member of The Stage Company's fundraising committee, said the performance group would not be taking out any loans to finance the project. Instead, he said, the company will rely on individual donations and expand a capital campaign that started in April 2007.
Langowski said the east theater, as well as the Varsity's largest auditorium, will lose half of its seats to make way for a stage and backstage area. But the finished main theater should have nearly 300 seats, which is more than three times more than the theater on Washington Square.
The company hopes to make the Varsity appear as it did in 1940, while still converting it from a movie theater to performing arts center, he said.
"I think it will be remarkable, and something to really be proud of when that day comes," Langowski said.
The fate of a "balcony theater" on the building's second-floor, which was originally balcony seating in the main theater, has yet to be decided. Langowski said Kerasotes converted the balcony into an auditorium in an effort to compete with the multi-screen movie theaters being built in the 1980s. He said The Stage Company asked architects to make the second-floor auditorium into balcony seating again so long as it does not tamper with acoustics.
As the larger theater's renovation is completed, Field said the east theater would be made available to other community groups - possibly Carbondale Community Arts.
Jacquie Betz, director of the company from 2002 through 2006, said performances have been held at community venues ranging from Carbondale Community High School to Mugsy McGuire's Bar and Grill since 2005. Betz said she is excited to see the Varsity become the company's new facility.
"There are a lot of folks who remember sitting in the Varsity with their popcorn, and stealing their first kiss," she said.
Daily Egyptian writer Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.
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