Opera House pulls out stops
Offering entertainment for a wider audience part of restoration plan
By Michele Linckmlinck@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Tim Blum tears apart an old stage set at Ye Olde Opera House in Akron Friday, January 2, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
AKRON, Iowa -- At a time of universal belt-tightening and budget slashing, a small Iowa theater company is busily preparing for the most expensive show in its 102-year history.
In a bold step aimed at obtaining grants and matching funds to renovate and restore the 1906 Akron Opera House, its board of directors is spending nearly $15,000 to bring the "Best of Broadway" to the stage. It's an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway revue whose four stars have performed in Webber's shows on Broadway. A five-piece band will accompany them for two shows Sunday.
"We are kind of at a crossroads," said Doug Olson, president of the opera house board. "We were a viable, 501(c)3 organization and had some money in the bank. But we had a deteriorating building. At some point we were going to lose the building."
The once-stately theater has recently been certified as structurally sound. But it needs tuck-pointing, new electrical wiring, new plumbing, new windows and doors, a new sound system and new seats, along with general updating and refurbishing.
Akron Community Theater mounts two or three shows a year in the theater that occupies the opera house's second and third floors. But the revenue from a few plays is not enough to pay for the needed repairs, which are expected to cost several million dollars.
The board hopes that generating more activity at the opera house will help it qualify for grants and raise matching funds when they are needed.
Olson said Akron and its neighboring communities have always supported the opera house but that it needs a wider audience now.
"We have to tap into the Sioux City market, Sioux Falls, Le Mars, Elk Point," he said.
To that end, this is the first season in more than 40 years to include outside productions.
A three-year plan
After considering its options in June, the board committed to an aggressive track. It grew its own membership from seven to 10, adding a vocal music teacher, a loan officer and a high school teacher. "It was more brain power, more people to help on committees," Olson said.
The board developed a three-year plan for restoring and renovating the structure. And it hired former music instructor Mark Cline as its part-time executive director. Cline, of Sioux Falls, is a business consultant with contacts in entertainment and business.
Cline advised the leadership on beefing up its schedule, booking eight outside shows to add to this season's three local productions. In addition, he brings an experienced team of grant writers to the table.
On another front, the board recently received the state of Iowa's blessing to apply to the National Park Service for National Register of Historic Places status for the building.
Olson said that application, being prepared by Cline's team, will be submitted in the next few months. The national status doesn't guarantee grants, but it helps, Cline has told them.
It should also help that the opera house is not only a cultural and historical landmark but also lies at the northern end of the 220-mile Loess Hills Scenic Byway, which runs to Hamburg, Iowa.
"That opens doors for U.S. Department of Transportation grants," Olson said.
Local bank steps up
First National Bank of Akron is the presenting sponsor of "Best of Broadway," but its gift doesn't pay all the costs. Tickets must be sold.
Bank president Kevin Eekhoff wouldn't say how much the bank gave to the production, except that it was about a year's advertising budget.
"We're glad to do that," he said. "It gives me a chance to stand on the stage with a check" and promote the bank.
Eekhoff will be looking at an audience of 300 people for each show if the venue is sold out. It will be one of the smaller audiences to see "Best of Broadway."
The show's four performers -- Ray Saar, Diane Ketchie, Valerie Perri and Scott Harlan -- do about 120 shows a year in theaters across the country and overseas, about 20 of them in small venues, Saar said in an interview from his Los Angeles office. The troupe has also played theaters that seat as many as 15,000 and others that are big on prestige, such as the White House and Carnegie Hall.
"It's always fun to go into a smaller town and more intimate theater," Saar said. "It doesn't change our performance; it changes the audience's experience. It almost becomes 'unplugged.' Everybody in the house gets the emotional contact, sitting up close and personal.
"You folks are going to be the better for it," he promised.
If you go
What: "Best of Broadway"
When: 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Akron Opera House, Akron, Iowa
Tickets: $50, $47, $44 and $39. Call 712-568-8747; if the box office is closed, leave a message or stop by Koala-Printing/Akron Hometowner at 120 Reed St. in Akron.
Directions: From Sioux City, follow State Highway 12 north about 25 miles to Akron. Turn right onto Reed Street, look for the Akron Opera House on the left, at 151 Reed St.
Amenities: Includes a chair lift for those who can't walk up steps.
In a bold step aimed at obtaining grants and matching funds to renovate and restore the 1906 Akron Opera House, its board of directors is spending nearly $15,000 to bring the "Best of Broadway" to the stage. It's an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway revue whose four stars have performed in Webber's shows on Broadway. A five-piece band will accompany them for two shows Sunday.
"We are kind of at a crossroads," said Doug Olson, president of the opera house board. "We were a viable, 501(c)3 organization and had some money in the bank. But we had a deteriorating building. At some point we were going to lose the building."
The once-stately theater has recently been certified as structurally sound. But it needs tuck-pointing, new electrical wiring, new plumbing, new windows and doors, a new sound system and new seats, along with general updating and refurbishing.
Akron Community Theater mounts two or three shows a year in the theater that occupies the opera house's second and third floors. But the revenue from a few plays is not enough to pay for the needed repairs, which are expected to cost several million dollars.
The board hopes that generating more activity at the opera house will help it qualify for grants and raise matching funds when they are needed.
Olson said Akron and its neighboring communities have always supported the opera house but that it needs a wider audience now.
"We have to tap into the Sioux City market, Sioux Falls, Le Mars, Elk Point," he said.
To that end, this is the first season in more than 40 years to include outside productions.
A three-year plan
After considering its options in June, the board committed to an aggressive track. It grew its own membership from seven to 10, adding a vocal music teacher, a loan officer and a high school teacher. "It was more brain power, more people to help on committees," Olson said.
The board developed a three-year plan for restoring and renovating the structure. And it hired former music instructor Mark Cline as its part-time executive director. Cline, of Sioux Falls, is a business consultant with contacts in entertainment and business.
Cline advised the leadership on beefing up its schedule, booking eight outside shows to add to this season's three local productions. In addition, he brings an experienced team of grant writers to the table.
On another front, the board recently received the state of Iowa's blessing to apply to the National Park Service for National Register of Historic Places status for the building.
Olson said that application, being prepared by Cline's team, will be submitted in the next few months. The national status doesn't guarantee grants, but it helps, Cline has told them.
It should also help that the opera house is not only a cultural and historical landmark but also lies at the northern end of the 220-mile Loess Hills Scenic Byway, which runs to Hamburg, Iowa.
"That opens doors for U.S. Department of Transportation grants," Olson said.
Local bank steps up
First National Bank of Akron is the presenting sponsor of "Best of Broadway," but its gift doesn't pay all the costs. Tickets must be sold.
Bank president Kevin Eekhoff wouldn't say how much the bank gave to the production, except that it was about a year's advertising budget.
"We're glad to do that," he said. "It gives me a chance to stand on the stage with a check" and promote the bank.
Eekhoff will be looking at an audience of 300 people for each show if the venue is sold out. It will be one of the smaller audiences to see "Best of Broadway."
The show's four performers -- Ray Saar, Diane Ketchie, Valerie Perri and Scott Harlan -- do about 120 shows a year in theaters across the country and overseas, about 20 of them in small venues, Saar said in an interview from his Los Angeles office. The troupe has also played theaters that seat as many as 15,000 and others that are big on prestige, such as the White House and Carnegie Hall.
"It's always fun to go into a smaller town and more intimate theater," Saar said. "It doesn't change our performance; it changes the audience's experience. It almost becomes 'unplugged.' Everybody in the house gets the emotional contact, sitting up close and personal.
"You folks are going to be the better for it," he promised.
If you go
What: "Best of Broadway"
When: 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Akron Opera House, Akron, Iowa
Tickets: $50, $47, $44 and $39. Call 712-568-8747; if the box office is closed, leave a message or stop by Koala-Printing/Akron Hometowner at 120 Reed St. in Akron.
Directions: From Sioux City, follow State Highway 12 north about 25 miles to Akron. Turn right onto Reed Street, look for the Akron Opera House on the left, at 151 Reed St.
Amenities: Includes a chair lift for those who can't walk up steps.
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Karen Taylor-Mortensen wrote on Jan 6, 2009 8:47 PM:
Akron Opera House
P.O. Box 223
Akron, IA 51001 "
Sioux City Sue wrote on Jan 6, 2009 6:00 PM:
What is the mailing address...
Carole Jean Anderson Whitten "