OLD AUDITORIUM RETURNING TO GLORY DAYS AS THEATER.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

The seats are gone and the hardwood floor ripped off the stage. Boxes of school supplies, full of glue pots and pencils, line the walls of the old Newhall Elementary School auditorium.

Built in 1939, the quaint structure, once a haven for young movie lovers in the early 1940s, is in the process of making a comeback from its present undignified status as a school warehouse.

The old theater's house lights will shine again in Newhall thanks to a community effort spearheaded by the Newhall School District and Theater Arts for Children, a nonprofit organization determined to bring the auditorium back to life.

``It's small and cute, like something from a Bonnie and Clyde movie,'' said Kim Wooten, vice president of TAC.

TAC and the school district inked a lease agreement, Tuesday night at a school board meeting, that will convert the warehouse back into an auditorium for cultural use by the school district and the community, Wooten said.

According to the agreement, the building, when perked up by renovations, will serve as a theater, with TAC managing the facility.

``It's a win-win situation for everyone, now that we've entered into a lease agreement with TAC,'' said Newhall School Board member Phil Ellis.

The district will charge TAC $1 a year to lease the auditorium.

According to other terms of the lease, TAC will move the district's materials, now stored in the auditorium, to a new facility.

TAC will perform the necessary renovations to restore the theater to its former glory, freeing the district from any financial responsibility.

``But we will benefit from the renovations if TAC ever moves out,'' Ellis said. ``And it's a good situation for them.'' With a lease agreement, the theater group can attract other sponsors and funding, he said.

For the time being, the removal of the school supplies stored in the auditorium is already in the works and will be completed this summer.

Last year, TAC received state funding of $350,000 for auditorium renovations, Wooten said.

New facilities must be found for storage of the supplies, and construction of the auditorium must begin by Sept. 1, according to the state's guidelines directing the use of the funds, Wooten said.

The group also has received a grant from the Newhall Family Foundation for $10,000.

Sean Morgan, cultural arts coordinator for the city, will aid the theater organizers by tidying up contracts and performing routine administrative duties in connection with the grant money.

But the thespian types, like Wooten, know the difficulties of remodeling an old theater, even ones that have been gutted.

The Newhall auditorium for all its charm does not have a dressing room or backstage rehearsal space, Wooten said.

To correct that and other design problems, TAC has already interviewed several local architectural firms, but to date none has been hired, she said.

Still the structure must be vacated before actual renovations can start.

``We're already talking to local moving companies about their donating trucks to help us with the move,'' Wooten said. ``We may use volunteer high school students to help us with our move this summer.''

Wooten, who describes the move as a partnership between the Newhall School District and TAC, expects to start clearing the auditorium within the next six weeks.

Newhall School Superintendent Marc Winger said that although TAC would manage the auditorium's renovations and operation, the district would also have use of the facilities in the partnership agreement with the children's theater organization.

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Photo

PHOTO Kindergarten students walk past the school auditorium, which is set for renovation this summer.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News