The first time we can recall reporting on someone’s grand scheme to restore the Jefferson Theater as a performance venue, after years as the Movie Palace, was 17 years ago. Before the property was picked up at auction by a local newspaper editor who then sold it 14 years later to a local music promoter/band manager/real estate mogul, community theater director and producer Peter Ryan espoused hopes to convert it to a 300-600 seat performance venue. Well, capacity for the new Jefferson is projected at about 750, but otherwise the ideas are not too dissimilar. And, while we’re talking about things that fundamentally remain unchanged, let’s turn our sights to the 58th District, which this week re-elected Delegate Rob Bell for a fifth term. When John Borgmeyer sat in with the rookie legislator in 2004, the question on our minds was whether Bell could write his own ticket. For the next two years, at least, and judging from last week’s decisive victory, the answer is clear.
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Paging through the archives
“…Ryan is interested in the Palace because the stage and theatrical capabilities are already there. The Movie Palace began life as the Jefferson Theater and was used for a variety of stage activities, including vaudeville. Behind the movie screen, a four story high flyspace looms above like a huge elevator shaft for scenery to be hauled up and down. With a backstage that is fifty by fifty feet, there is plenty of room for the workings of any theater production. ‘The Palace is really much like a Broadway house,’ Ryan says.”
Arts Watch (anon.)
January 22, 1992
Getting covered
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February 24, 2004 |
