By Celeste Edenloff September 28, 2023 This article was reprinted with permission from the Echo Press. (echopress.com)
ALEXANDRIA — The Andria Theatre is getting a makeover. Well, portions of it are anyway.
And of the biggest change is the location and size of the tech booth. According to Christine Reilly, executive director of the Andria Theatre , it all started with conversations about the need to move the tech booth.
Currently, the booth is located at the back of the theater on the second floor in a small space. The space, said Reilly, was used as the crying room back when the theater was first built in the 1930s. The Andria used to be an old movie theater and parents with crying children could go and sit in the crying room and still watch a show without bothering the other patrons.
Reilly said the tech booth is very crammed and during an average production, there can be anywhere from four to six tech crew members that are trying to work in that space.
“There’s just no elbow room,” she said. “Sometimes people have things on their laps and then they run the risk of something becoming unplugged and the lights going out, which did happen once.”
When the building was purchased in 1992 by the Alexandria Area Arts Association, there was a room in the back of the theater on the second floor that was the projection room. At that time, that room was remodeled and turned into the hair and makeup room.
But now, that room is being renovated and turned into the all new tech booth, which will have plenty of room for the tech crew to work and plenty of storage space for all their equipment.
“That space is a natural place for the tech booth,” said Reilly. “It’s large and it is centered with the stage. It is certainly going to improve the technical quality of our shows. They have been improving, but we have the capability to use a lot of cool effects and we have good technical equipment and good lighting, but we need space for them.”
A domino effect
When the conversation started to move the tech booth, one of the questions to figure out was if the concrete and brick wall could be cut into. Reilly said it was at that time when they contacted architects and structural engineers to find out not only if it was doable but also feasible cost wise.
Once those hurdles were cleared, it became a domino effect. If the tech booth moved into the hair and makeup room, then where would that be housed and what would happen to the space where the tech booth was.
It was decided to move hair and makeup on the first floor next to the dressing rooms, which makes it more accessible to everyone because there are no stairs, Reilly said, noting that she really wants the theater accessible to everyone. With having stairs to the hair and makeup room, that was limited, she said.
With hair and makeup being moved next to the dressing rooms, it also made sense to remodel the dressing rooms, too. The women’s dressing room is being enlarged slightly and getting refreshed, said Reilly. The men’s dressing room was gutted and is also getting a refresh with newly painted walls and new flooring.
The dressing rooms are also going to be used for their intended purpose now and will no longer be used as storage space.
“They are going to be simple, clean and the space will be used for just hanging costumes and changing clothes,” she said.
Other space in the theater is being renovated and remodeled into storage space. That space, said Reilly, will be used for the front of the house and will be more like a walk-in closet that will house a refrigerator as well as cleaning supplies and other miscellaneous items.
So what will happen to the old tech booth/crying room? Reilly said that is being remodeled into a box suite, which will now be the executive suite. The executive suite will be able to seat six people. There is also a box suite on the other side of the tech booth that will remain and can seat two people.
“Both the box suite and the executive suite have a really cool view of the stage,” said Reilly.
What is the cost of the project?
The total cost of the remodel/renovation project is about $220,000, she said, noting that they had invested some money that was used to pay for more than half of it. Then, over the past summer, there were some fundraisers held that helped raise another $115,000.
“So, we’ve got the costs covered,” she said. “And we are really excited about that.”
The work on the theater started Aug. 28 and is expected to be finished by mid-November.
The cast of the first winter show is expected to start rehearsals by Nov. 1, said Reilly.