Photograph by Robert Scheer
The former Sam Cloud Hay and Feed Warehouse is proposed as the site for a new theater.
By Carolyn Leal
Ken Carter, director of music at Saratoga Presbyterian, is a man with a dream.
Carter hopes to establish a theater in downtown Saratoga, in an aging barn behind Bella Saratoga restaurant on Big Basin Way.
Carter's EagleWing Theatre Company has negotiated an agreement to lease and renovate the barn so that it could be used for year-round professional theatrical productions, theater education and concerts.
The barn currently is unusable for anything except storage, Carter said.
A city code inspector said the building is unsafe.
"The building shows signs of delapidation and deterioration and is listing and leaning, and we have some structural concerns regarding the integrity of the building," said City Codes Administrator Joe Oncay.
Preliminary plans call for reinforcing the building's structure to bring it up to safety standards while maintaining the historic wooden exterior, Carter said. Saratoga architect Warren Heid is working on plans for an approximately 140-seat arena theater.
Carter hopes to establish a resident repertory company that would concentrate on portraying family values. Such theaters across the continent are very successful, Carter said. "In Alberta, Canada, they have one that's bringing in 50,000 people a year."
Similar theaters operate in San Diego, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Houston and Pittsburgh, he said.
Carter picked up grassroots support recently when the Saratoga Business Development Council endorsed the idea. He will make a presentation before the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce this week.
"EagleWing will be aimed at enhancing the artistic, cultural and theatrical activities of Saratoga while maintaining its historic village," Carter said. In the afternoon, the theater will be open to seniors and school groups, and evenings will be for the general public, Carter said. Offerings will be both musical and nonmusical, with an emphasis on socially redeeming themes, he said. Pocket opera, children's theater and Shakespeare's plays are all possibilities.
The 1901-era barn, owned by Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Brozda, formerly housed the Sam Cloud Hay and Feed Warehouse.
Carter estimated it would take 12 to 18 months to pull the project together. He said he did not have a cost estimate yet.
"It's going to be great for Saratoga," he said, noting that the theater would draw tourists who could purchase a theater-dinner package.
Carter, a Saratoga resident, has played more than 60 major operatic and musical theater roles.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.