![]() ![]() Delaney Lockwood raised about $700 to help rebuild Venice Theatre, which was damaged during Hurricane Ian, from a lemonade stand. The damage included some of the thigh-high boots that factor into the story about a drag queen’s efforts to help a young man save his struggling shoe factory by having him make high-heeled boots. In addition, some of the costumes were damaged during the storm and will need to be rebuilt. The theater looked for alternative performance venues for “Kinky Boots,” but there was limited availability, and “we saw we could not do enough performances in the smaller new venue to accommodate tickets that were already sold,” he said. We’re rockin’ and rollin’ and working hard to get back together.” “Nothing could be further from the truth. ![]() It will mark the 20th year that Chase has directed the show with musical director Michelle Kasanofsky.Īfter photos and videos of the damaged building appeared on television, online and in social media posts, Chase said “there are a lot of people who think the theater doesn’t exist anymore and that Venice Theatre is gone,” Chase said. “A Christmas Carol” will feature a new and smaller design and fewer cast members than past years. “The community has just been great about helping out,” he said. Instead, the staff is creating a 125-seat thrust theater (with audience members surrounding part of the stage) for “A Christmas Carol” and other performances.Īll scheduled education programs are happening in six different venues around Venice. In 2019, Venice Theatre purchased the former Hamilton Building, which briefly served as the Venice Public Library, and plans were in place to begin turning the building into the Raymond Center for arts education programs. 2-19 in a newly constructed temporary theater in a building that will eventually become the company’s home for arts education programs. Saturday, the theater will hold auditions for its 22nd production of “A Christmas Carol,” which will run Dec. Offices on the west side of the theater building also will be usable again. He expects to start using the theater in the next few months. Once electricity is restored to the building, Chase said the company will be able to use the 90-seat Pinkerton Theatre, which was mostly undamaged, as was the newly renovated lobby. That will be several hundreds of thousands of dollars.” “That doesn’t include putting it all back together and it doesn’t include costumes and fabrics, which were removed from the building and are being refurbished. ![]() ![]() The rain that entered the building after the walls blew off caused flooding and mildew in parts of the building, including the auditorium, so the fabric on audience seats may have to be replaced.Ĭhase said he was not ready to put a value on the cost of the project but, “we’re talking several million dollars over what insurance will cover and we were well insured.” The cost of water removal and mitigation alone was about $600,000 for just one side of the building. We will need a full redo on the electric system which eats up a lot of backstage space and we’ll modernize stuff to meet codes and be more efficient.” We may move the back wall further back to create a larger and deeper backstage and a deeper on-stage area,” he said. Remnants from the scenery from a show that was forced to end hang over the stage. A view from the inside auditorium across the stage and outside at Venice Theatre’s MainStage Jervey Theatre after Hurricane Ian led to the collapse of the back of the building. We’ve just added a couple of months into the schedule in case that doesn’t happen,” Chase said about the rebuilding plan. “It’s a real push but we’re hoping to be in there running by late October or early November next year. Murray Chase, the theater’s producing executive director, said the company has been meeting with architects, engineers, the city of Venice and contractors about next steps toward rebuilding and reopening the theater. 2, it will open a scaled-down version of its annual “A Christmas Carol.” Auditions will be held on Saturday. 12 opening night when the hurricane hit.īut other Venice Theatre performances will resume even sooner. The show was just weeks away from its Oct. The theater said it would open its delayed production of the Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein musical “Kinky Boots” on Jan. Three weeks after Hurricane Ian ripped apart its main theater and fly loft and caused massive damage to electrical systems, costumes, stage and theater seats, Venice Theatre revealed ambitious plans to have the building ready to reopen in a little more than a year. ![]()
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