ARTS ACTIVIST LEADS DRIVE TO RESTORE SCHOOL THEATER.Byline: Victoria Giraud Earthquakes have a tendency to shake things up, to put it mildly. They also can uncover treasures like a spacious, old auditorium. When Newhall Elementary School elementary school: see school. parents were assessing the damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. , they discovered that a large warehouse building next to the school was really an auditorium, built in 1940 by President Franklin Roosevelt's Work Project Administration at a cost of just $87,000. The seats had been removed, but the sloping floor and the raised stage remained. Velvet curtains, probably the originals, were still in place as was the foyer with ticket booth. There was also an upstairs projection room projection room n (CINE) → cabina de proyección projection room n (Cine) → cabine f de projection projection room . A little investigation revealed the theater once contained 460 seats and had the same floor plan as the earthquake-damaged Hart Auditorium. In the 1940s, the auditorium was used Saturdays to show old William S. Hart movies. The auditorium was big enough for all sorts of town gatherings, from plays and organizational meetings to Scouting programs and even for National Guard meetings during World War II. ``We realized what a jewel it was,'' said Patti Rasmussen, president of the Theater Arts for Children Foundation, the organization founded to restore the auditorium for children and adults and as a venue for the performing arts. It was converted into a warehouse in 1975 when state school budgets were tight, and extra space counted against Newhall Elementary. Before its conversion, the building was used for six classrooms. ``We decided to restore it for kids, but as we reached out to the community, we realized there was no place for community theater, and there are a lot of performing arts groups in town,'' Patti said. Newhall Elementary School District Superintendent District Superintendent may be:
Michael Mc Grath, was born on the 30/6/1963 who hails from the Sarsfields club in County Galway, was an outstanding score-getter during his inter-county career. gave his blessing to the restoration project but made three requests: that they find funding for the auditorium, that they find alternative warehouse space to replace the 5,000 square feet the district would lose, and that they design a program to bring fine arts back into the school district. The Theater Arts Foundation is a core group of 20 dedicated and ambitious folks. Not only do they hope to restore the auditorium, they also want to use the adjacent warehouse built in 1989 to store props and costumes, Patti said. The foundation went to the Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, City Council, which was immersed in plans to revitalize downtown Newhall, and pressed its case for a local theater. ``People will come to town to watch a play; it's a drawing card,'' Patti said they told the council. She added that they did not ask for funding. ``We've been writing for grants for two years. We've had a lot of rejections, but we keep on writing. We knew it would be at least a five-year project once we found a funding source.'' Nearby cities that had succeeded in establishing community theaters, like Lancaster and Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , were investigated. Lancaster converted an old movie house; Simi Valley refurbished an old church. Basic renovation to make the auditorium safe for public use and bring it up to current earthquake safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. include removing suspected asbestos in the foyer, adding seats and providing access for the disabled. These projects are expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars. ``Once we get $320,000, we would start performing,'' Patti said. Total renovation, including amenities such as lighting, air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. and heating would bring the total cost to $1.2 million. Besides looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. grants, the foundation has spent a lot of time getting the word out to parents from the district's schools, to the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. Arts Council An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad. and to local performing arts groups. Members also have approached the Santa Clarita Department of Parks and Recreation to become partners in the project, since foundation members don't want to become theater managers. After all her work with the foundation, Patti said, ``I find that I really admire people who spend time with theater.'' She pointed out that drama teachers she knows will use their weekends to work with young people making props and scenery. Patti's oldest son (she has four boys) is a 6-foot, 2-inch, 280 pounder. Despite his size, he chose theater instead of football, and is involved in the technical end of theater productions at Hart High School Hart High School may refer to:
Students put on a two-night production not long ago of ``Deadwood Deadwood, city (1990 pop. 1,830), seat of Lawrence co., W S.Dak.; settled 1876 after discovery of gold. A Black Hills tourist center, it is also a trade hub for a lumbering, stock-raising, and mining region. Dick'' in the Rasmussen yard. There were about 300 youngsters in attendance on opening night. ``My neighbor was worried that we were having Woodstock,'' Patti laughed. ``I'm very committed to this,'' Patti declared of her participation in the foundation. ``The group I work with is great, some don't even have a child in school. We need to reach kids at a young age to give them a love of theater and drama. We're wasting a great resource here.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Patti Rasmussen sees great potential for the Newhall Elementary School auditorium, built in 1940, which she calls a ``jewel.'' John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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