School plays have been performed everywhere from the cafeteria and little theater to a circus tent on the school's grassy field. The school has also relied on any Saratoga church that's offered its facilities. Musical and vocal ensembles used the school's gym—not known for its acoustics—along with theaters at West Valley College, Los Gatos High and other local venues.

It's a testament to the Saratoga staff and students that they've managed to perform under such conditions, assistant principal Karen Hyde says.

Saratoga High is undoubtedly overdue for its Performing Arts and Lecture Center, which is nearly complete, Cindy Ranii, superintendent of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, says. Les Battersby, with Gonsalves and Stronck Construction Company, expects the PAL to be done between July 15 and July 30, with a grand opening celebration in the works.

"I'm anxious to see what else these kids can achieve," Hyde says, adding she's prepared to see students win Oscars, Grammys and Tonys in the near future.

It's an incredible community project that began years ago from "conversations around kitchen tables," says Cathie Thermond, co-president of the Saratoga High School Foundation and president of the Saratoga Union School District's board of trustees.

The nonprofit foundation was formed in November 2000 by parents, school representatives and members of the community with the purpose of supporting the school's programs. The foundation's current focus is raising the last of the needed funds.

"We're in the home stretch," Ranii says. "It feels good to be in the home stretch."

Ranii remembers when school officials planned for the June 1998 bond election, which was passed by the voters and started that summer with modernizing some restrooms and buildings. When Ranii compares those days to present times, Saratoga High has all its major building projects completed—with the PAL being the final one.

"That's an enormous accomplishment—without missing one day of school, lessening the quality of instruction or extracurricular activities," Ranii says.

Ranii plans to give a district convocation to staff on Aug. 26 inside the PAL to kick off the school year. Many people have cooperated to bring the project along: Thermond, former Principal Kevin Skelly, foundation board members Linda Rossen, Paula Cappello and Bill Barmeier, Redwood Middle School music director Vicki Wyant and Saratoga Union School District music instructor Margie Alejandro, among others.

"Cathie Thermond deserves a lot of credit," Skelly says. "She carried the water on this thing."

But Thermond points the attention away from herself and onto more than 1,200 donors—mostly parents and community members—who have made the PAL's dramatic vision a reality. More than $4.5 million has been raised in cash donations.

"Linda Rossen no longer has kids of her own at Saratoga High School, but she has never stopped supporting the fundraising efforts," Skelly says. "She has a great eye for detail regarding design and never gave up in her efforts. She is an amazing fundraiser."

After the $79 million Measure B bond was passed in June 1998, $3.1 million of those bond funds were allocated by the school district for a multi-purpose hall at Saratoga High, Ranii says. But people such as Michael Boitz, the high school's instrumental music director, and drama teacher Kathleen Woods claimed the students deserved better than just a gym and lecture hall.

"We collectively, at the time, objected and went back and said we've waited 30 years. This is not OK," says Ed Bordeleau, past president of the Saratoga High Music Boosters program. "Hence, more fundraising. The $3.1 million vision was wrong. This is what needed correcting. We modified and had to shape the vision."

It was the excitement and persistence of people such as Bordeleau, Boitz, Woods and music department administrative assistant Janet Verson who helped create today's PAL—featuring 585 installed seats covered in a Georgetown fire red fabric. The PAL has a 1,020 person occupancy and 17,178-square feet, according to Battersby.

Donor plates will soon be attached to the seats, Thermond says, and all but about 100 have already been taken. The PAL also boasts "a back of house" with electrical and storage space, men's and women's dressing rooms, an office for the theater facilities coordinator and a green room.

"The green room is where actors go to wait before they go on stage, so they can watch what's going on onstage on television," Thermond explains.

The front of the house features a control room, specialty acoustics and cloud panels, space for a sound board to be installed, racks for speakers and lights, a full orchestra pit that can seat between 30 to 40 musicians, access for the disabled, a wheelchair lift and also space for a curtain to be installed.

"There's not a bad seat in the house," Thermond says.

A full fly space allows an entire stage and scenery to be completely elevated into the PAL's 60-foot ceiling, Thermond says. In a full fly space, there's as much room above the stage as below it, so that sets, scenery and technical effects can be completely concealed. It gives a director many options when producing a play.

The PAL's front also features a lobby and concession area, landscaped exterior grounds and benches. The school's colors are woven into the PAL's color scheme, Thermond says. The chair seats are red and the bathrooms and carpets are a mix of grays and blues.

Skelly, who visited Saratoga High for graduation in June, says the PAL looks fabulous.

"The kids at Saratoga High School are just so extraordinarily talented and the fact they'll now have a facility worthy of their talents is just thrilling," he says.

Skelly remembers the furious times of fundraising.

"You'll see, when the plaques and banners are done, a lot of folks made efforts," Skelly says. "Kids played their instruments at the farmers market."

Skelly says his greatest regret is that he isn't there anymore, and some donors won't be able to see their children use the PAL. Skelly is hoping an alumni event will be planned for those students.

"We need to say a huge thank you to the people at the kitchen table and the community who voted for the bond," Bordeleau says. "There needs to be a huge thank you to all the people who kept the ball rolling. It's one thing to get the ball rolling, but it's another to keep the ball rolling."

Bordeleau orchestrated that first parent meeting around the kitchen table, according to Hyde. But that was when his son was a student at Saratoga High, and he's now already through college.

"I think that the most thrilling part is the students—the actors, singers and musicians—will have a performance space in which they can really thrive and their talents can really expand," Ranii says. "By having such a state-of-the-art facility, Saratoga High School's entire student body will become more connected to the audience. It's a beautiful experience. The kids deserve it, and the parents deserve such a treasured facility. It's a culmination of all the work that was started in 1997."

Currently, the word "lecture" is missing from the facility's title. When the architect went to order the letters for the front of the building, the words "and lecture center" didn't fit into the allocated space, so the title was shortened to Performing Arts Center.

"I don't know if we're going to leave it that way or not," Ranii says. "But that's to be decided."

She adds the school district is planning to make whole-hearted efforts to be "good neighbors" with the surrounding community and residences. The facility will first and foremost be a center for the school. For the first six months after it opens, the facility will be limited to school use, Ranii says, before it will be opened to non-profit and for-profit groups.

Adrian Stapleton has been hired as a part-time theater facilities coordinator, at 20 hours a week, to manage the theater's facilities, productions and administrative aspects. Stapleton comes to the school district with a bachelor's degree in theater arts from San José State University with an emphasis in technical aspects of theater. He has set design experience, including many of Los Gatos and Saratoga High's recent productions.

Stapleton describes working in theater as a "collaborative art." The theatrical world requires a partnership of creative talents and abilities from the actors, technical and facilities personnel and the audience.

His position will be paid for through the district's general fund for now. But as revenues accrue from the PAL's rentals, Ranii says they anticipate his salary will be paid for from the revenues it generates. The plan is for the PAL to become a cost-neutral facility.

"The job might grow into more than 20 hours a week as the need expands," Ranii says.

Bordeleau says the position is necessary, and adds that when decisions are made in a diverse community like Saratoga, they can't always please everyone. Bordeleau says there were once three different sets of plans for the PAL.

"The one that was actually built is a compromise of all three," he says. "It appears to be meeting the needs just as the school community would like it to be."

To reach that consensus took hours of parent and school board meetings, he says. The facility that started from a music perspective had to include access for student government groups and the speech and debate team, as well as theatrical, instrumental and vocal music usage.

One of the three proposals included a full balcony and seating for about 400 to 500 more people than the PAL will seat now. Another proposal featured a full basement with rehearsal and practice rooms. Plans were made to set up a partnership with a California children's theater group, and grants were sought from various organizations, which for many reasons didn't work out. So instead of pledges and partnerships, Hyde says, the school's foundation was formed and the PAL became funded by private donations.

The foundation is making one last fundraising push to make up a funding shortfall of about $400,000, Thermond says. The total project will end up costing an expected $8.3 million. About $100,000 to $150,000 of the last $400,000 will help pay for the PAL's technical sound and lighting equipment. There is already basic sound and lighting installed. Then, the building will officially be complete, former assistant principal Brian Safine says.

Safine, who was a part of a district facilities use committee, researched other centers similar to the PAL in surrounding communities. He said the school has already been contacted by many outside groups looking forward to using it.

"It will be a challenge, but a good problem to have," Safine says. "We'll have a real jewel on our campus."

Ranii says the school board also recently reviewed its facilities naming policy, so that should there be a donor of $1 million or more who steps forward, the board will be able to name the facility after that donor in one action with only one meeting. Ranii also says different donors want to be commemorated in different ways, and many of the PAL's donors who have already given have chosen to remain anonymous.

Thermond adds no matter how much people have given—whether it's $10 or $100,000—the PAL is what the students deserve and what the community will honor for many years to come.

For more information or to donate to the campaign, contact Thermond at 408.867.3411, ext. 405, or email cthermond@yahoo.com.