from The Courier-Tribune
Chip Womick
Staff Writer
ASHEBORO — The public phase of a $1.2 million fund-raising campaign to transform the Sunset Theatre into a performing arts center kicks off in about a week.
The historic movie house is already a downtown entertainment hub, but it needs an upgrade. That’s what Phil Shore told members of the Asheboro Rotary Club when they held their regular Friday lunchtime meeting in the theater at 234 Sunset Ave.
On Thursday night, Shore noted, a screening of the film “Talladega Nights” continued the Thrifty Thursday movie series, when admission, popcorn and a soft drink costs just $5.
On Friday night, he said, the band Passin’ Thru would be taking to the stage as part of an ongoing music series — Friday Night Bluegrass — which typically attracts a crowd of 70-100.
Almost as soon as the last twang of music wound down, he said, members of RSVP Community Theatre would be converging upon the theater to start setting up for production of “The Dixie Swim Club,” which will be presented over the next two weekends.
Last year, he said, 19,000 people came to the Sunset Theatre for movies, concerts and plays and other events. There will be a wedding in the facility this fall.
“You have to have a place where this variety can happen,” said Shore, who is former executive director of the Randolph Arts Guild and a member of the steering committee for the theater capital campaign.
“It’s a community project to take care of this building,” he added. “I think if you look around you might say it looks pretty good already. But it’s an 80-year-old building. It needs modernizing.”
Among the needed modernizations, Shore said, are theatrical lighting, a better sound system and improved heating and air conditioning: “None of the things that need to be put in here are cheap,” he said.
The city bought the 1930s-era movie house in 2005 to preserve it and to one day renovate it. Subsequently, two adjacent buildings were purchased so there would be room for expansion. An initial renovation proposal put together by a Raleigh architectural firm utilized all three buildings and carried an estimated price tag of $4 million-$5 million.
City council members balked at the cost. An advisory committee was established to come up with ideas for creating a comfortable and functional facility on a more limited budget.
Asheboro architect Steve Cofer developed the current project plans. He said that the bulk of the money raised in the $1.2 million campaign will pay for things that people will not see — such as new plumbing, new wiring and a new heating and air-conditioning system: “It can’t be seen, it can’t be heard, but it’s going to make it comfortable,” he said.
Making the stage handicap-accessible will not be readily apparent to the average theater-goer either. Doing so, Cofer said, will mean tearing out a wall between the theater and the building next door. It’s not a glitzy design element and it will not be cheap, but it’s necessary.
Another behind-the-scenes upgrade will be building dressing rooms in space in the rear of the third building — behind the Friends of the Library bookstore. Building codes also will require installation of a sprinkler system.
The most apparent changes will be a new entrance and lobby. The new entrance will be through the building adjacent to the theatre — where the new marquee is. The entrance has to be moved because the original entrance opens upon an uphill grade that does not meet handicap-accessibility requirements.
Inside the new entrance patrons will enter a lobby with exposed brick walls. The space will be about three times the size of the current lobby and open to the ceiling of the second floor. The design, Cofer said, will be simple, but elegant, and will not cost a lot.
The building next to the theater also will house handicap-accessible bathrooms and rehearsal space on two floors. Plans do not call for much work in the theater proper, where the audience sits. There will be fresh paint on the walls, but no decision has been made on whether the seating will be refurbished or replaced.
Besides some cosmetic touch-ups, Cofer said, there’s not a lot to be done in the original theater. The most important thing may be to preserve as much as possible.
“A majority of the character is still here,” he said, “and we’re going to try to retain as much of that as we can.”
Down the road, Cofer said, he can envision future work on the theater.
“Give it five or 10 years,” he said. “I suspect, if it’s successful, there will be certain demands, certain things will come to life, and they will want to add or to expand. Buildings are like that.”
Photo
Paul Church
CHANGES COMING — Architect Steve Cofer passes through the front lobby of the Sunset Theatre Friday, while making notes concerning future renovations to the historic facility.
Photo
Paul Church
CHANGES COMING — Architect Steve Cofer passes through the front lobby of the Sunset Theatre Friday, while making notes concerning future renovations to the historic facility.