Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Theater Fan: Ginger Shafer, manager of the Heritage Theatre restoration project, shows blueprints for the building's restoration. Shafer is heading up efforts to restore the 1938 theater and make it available to local school and community groups.
Fund drive for historic theater kicks off
Group begins effort to raise $2.7 million for Heritage Theatre work
By Gloria I. Wang
The Friends of the Heritage Theatre will kick off a $2.7 million fundraising campaign on Jan. 25, with an invitation-only event for current and future donors. Project manager Ginger Shafer says the event is intended "to get people interested in donating money and thank the people who have donated money."
Vice Mayor Jeanette Watson, who is the group's president, says that people are reluctant to donate money because of the condition of theater's exterior.
"From the outside it looks wonderful," Watson says. "It's been painted, the tiles are still there ... But when you look at the interior--the roof, the seats, the carpeting--renovation has to take place."
After years of planning, the Friends and city hope to start construction next January, and finish in time for a December 2002 grand opening.
According to City Manager Bernie Strojny, the total cost of renovation is $8.5 million.
The Friends arrived at this amount last year after hiring architects and making detailed lists of structural and mechanical improvements that the building needs.
Strojny says that most of the $5.8 million already promised for the project comes from the city.
Campbell's seven-year capital improvement plan, approved last April, includes $500,000 needed to complete architectural work. The city's capital improvement reserves will kick in at about $3 million.
Approximately $1 million from a land sale will go to the theater, while the Campbell Redevelopment Agency has promised a matching grant when the Friends solicit their first $1 million.
The state of California and Santa Clara County have also given a total of almost $300,000 in grants.
This leaves the Friends with $2.7 million to raise. They anticipate having all of the money by next June.
The 800-seat Heritage Theatre, located in the Campbell Community Center, will be used primarily for families and youth-run productions, but two Campbell school districts will get top priority for using the space.
According to Friends' board member Dick Robbins, Campbell high schools will use the space at least 50 days a year for concerts and musical theater events.
The theater will be the only mid-sized performance facility serving the West Valley region. In addition to school productions, theater staff hope to draw professional performances and other youth arts programs.
The building also is on city, county, state and federal historic building registries.
Built in 1938, the 1,000-seat theater was originally the Campbell High School Auditorium. Its architect, William Henry Weeks, also designed the Hotel De Anza in downtown San Jose and the former Campbell Union Grammar School.
Students continued to use the theater for productions even after the high school became the community center in 1980, but the venue itself was shut down two years later because of structural and mechanical problems.
According to Shafer, no action was taken for 14 years because city officials felt that it was too expensive of an undertaking.
Shafer says that the building suffers from water-damaged carpeting and roofing, an archaic lighting system, the lack of sufficient dressing room space, posts that block the view from certain seats in the house, and electrical systems that were modern in 1938 but are obsolete today.
Finally, in 1996, the city council commissioned studies on what to do with the former auditorium. Some of the options included demolishing the building entirely, or using it for other purposes.
The results showed that the best use of the space would be its restoration as a theater. It was at that time that the auditorium was dubbed the "Heritage Theatre."
Also in 1996, the city and consultants came up with an estimated project cost of $3 million. That figure was based on the then-lower construction costs and the intent to only fix what was broken.
After that, the city council formed the Friends of the Heritage Theatre. The organization's board of directors began to make concrete plans for restoration in 1998.
The nine-member board consists of three city officials and six community members who have an interest in local performing arts.
Watson, who recalls playing in orchestra concerts as a Campbell High School student, got involved in the project in 1996, as a concerned council member.
"I was afraid that there were people who didn't see it as a theater and didn't recognize the need for a theater," she says.
Watson says she took action after the Friends was formed. She "was just watching and waiting until the right time came along."
The Friends is dedicated not only to preserving the theater and meeting the needs of the community, but also to making it a cultural center for the West Valley.
The formation of the Friends, however, led to more specific goals of restoration and added to the list of improvements needed.
The current $8.5 million figure will fund an extensive list of tasks.
The building needs structural changes to make it seismically safe and fit ADA guidelines.
Other necessary construction includes building a new backstage and restrooms, extending the existing lobby, putting in modern technology for the sound system, updating the lighting and rigging, patching the ceilings, putting in new seats.
The addition would increase the original square footage of 14,500 to 20,000 square feet.
Last January the Friends hired the firm of C. David Robinson Architects, which specializes in the architecture and preservation of performing arts facilities, to do the design work. Robinson has also worked on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the Temple Emanu-el in San Francisco.
Fundraising will not stop even after the $2.7 million is received.
As with the San Jose Symphony, the Friends expects to hold fundraising events in the future and hopes to obtain corporate sponsorship. The money will be needed to pay for staffing, equipment, and other ongoing expenses.
The current timeline for the restoration is to complete construction drawings by the end of summer, break ground next January, have the remaining $2.7 million by June 2002, and finish construction the following December.
CDRA's project manager and preservation consultant for the Heritage Theatre project Mark Hulbert anticipates the construction process will move along smoothly.
"We're clearly poised to roll forward in the next couple of weeks," Hulbert says.
Campbell, California
