After nearly 20 years of using James A. Garfield High School’s facilities to stage performances, Garrettsville’s Curtains Up Theatre is in the early stages of purchasing a property at the corner of Windham Street and High Street on Buckeye Block in Garrettsville to build its own theater. The theater would be on the second floor of the building with space for retail on the first floor.
The project will be paid for in part through $225,000 from the state’s most recent $3.7 billion capital improvements budget, as well as $227,323 left over from a previous capital budget bill.
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In 2014, Curtains Up Theatre had planned to renovate the former Buckeye Hall with money from the state, but the building was destroyed in a fire before work could begin.
“We had worked with the state and received money to buy Buckeye Block and renovate the theater on the second floor,” said Jackie Loreta-Rinearson, founder, president and executive director of the theatre. “We were about a week away from getting our money when the building burned down, so I called the state and said, ‘The building caught fire and it was about gone,’ and I was told, ‘Well, no building, no money, sorry.’”
Ultimately, the funds were transferred to the Garrettsville Area Chamber of Commerce, which spent all but $227,323 to build a new outdoor amphitheater.
Rinearson, who writes the “Around Garrettsville” column for the Portager, said the project cost will be between $2.5 to $3 million. Additional funds needed for the project will come from donations and from sponsorships for various parts of the building, as well as funds generated by Rinearson’s annual fundraiser, Sip n Shop in Garrettsville.
“We are going to start selling chairs. We’ll start selling bricks. And then we have a menu of items, like the stage, the auditorium, the bar, the lights, the sound, and different people will purchase that as a sponsorship, so their name will be attached to it, like the Iva Walker Auditorium; Iva put the money up for it.They named the auditorium after her. They [sponsors] will pay $200 and there will be a nameplate on the chair in the auditorium sponsored by that person,” Rinearson said.
Sarchione Chevrolet in Garrettsville has already donated $150,000 for the new stage.
Curtains Up Theatre will continue to operate out of James A. Garfield High School until the new facility is constructed and ready for operation. Rinearson said the organization plans to break ground next year.
The Curtains Up Theatre company was started in 2006 by Rinearson and her husband, Jeff; the following year it produced its first play, “Papa’s Angels,” at the high school.
The high school has been the home of Curtains Up’s plays since the group’s inception, but Rineareson said the situation is suboptimal.
“Currently, right now, we have to come through the maintenance door to get in, because everything’s blocked off to us,” Rinearson said. “They [the actors] were rehearsing in the 90-plus heat with no air conditioning, so it’s not ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers either. They’ve been wonderful to us, but it’s just rough. We basically have to do a show when they tell us we can do a show.”
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The new building would include a projected three rental retail spaces on the first floor with the theater on the second floor. Rinearson said because the theater company only holds four or five plays a year, the theater could also be used for live musical acts.
“We just want to bring live entertainment to Garrettsville. We want to bring some retail back to Garrettsville and try to get some excitement going,” Rinearson said.
For a short time, Curtains Up offered a youth theater program, but facilitating the program proved to be difficult without a full-time theater. Curtains Up Treasurer and Director Elisha Bly said if the company has its own theater, programs like that could become a reality again.
“I think it’s such an exciting opportunity, especially with Jackie’s idea of being able to expand it more, even for educational use. Something I’m very passionate about is teaching high schoolers, middle schoolers, elementary schoolers the skills you learn in theater,” Bly said. “I’d love to have the opportunity to hold different seminars and courses where people can learn. It would give us more opportunities to do more with the community, which I think is important.”
Mike Carlson is the current owner of the Buckeye Block property where Curtains Up Theatre is planned to be constructed. Rinearson said the organization is scheduled to purchase the property as soon as the funds are available. Jeremy Brown/The Portager
Curtains Up Theatre Set Designer and Sound and Lighting Technician Tim Splinter said having its own theater would give the company the luxury of operating on its own schedule without having to work around the high school’s events, which would allow the team to have more time to build a set, to take it down after a show and to troubleshoot problems that may arise.
The new Curtains Up Theatre also would be equipped with upgraded stage lighting, which Splinter said could have remote-controlled LED lighting and more lighting overall, and the theater would also give the production team more space to store props, tools and costumes.
“Storage for props would be a major help for us right now, having storage on site. Right now we can’t store much of anything at the school, so we have several storage lockers over by the Brick, with all kinds of stuff crammed in, and other stuff stored, literally, at people’s houses,” Splinter said. “The ability to have our own storage and to have the materials and the work space right there all the time, instead of having to bring everything together, or take it all to somebody's house while we do pre-construction, and then take it to the school when we can get on the stage, would increase the convenience of operating a lot.”