Theater space finally secured

School lecture hall to be renovated

A rendering of performing arts space to be created out of an old lecture hall at Wakefield High, with fund-raising help. (CBT ARCHITECTS)

A determined group of residents has for years pursued the dream of creating a new venue in Wakefield for drama and musical events. That vision will soon become a reality.

The town is set to carry out the $750,000 conversion of an old lecture hall at Wakefield Memorial High School into a 275-seat community performing arts space this summer.

The venue will host performances by school and nonschool groups, lectures, and other community events.

As a bonus, no town dollars are involved. The construction costs are being covered through a combination of state funds and private donations raised by the nonprofit residents group, the Center for the Performing Arts Inc.

The project falls short of the organization's original goal of creating a free- standing, 500-seat performing arts center. But the group's president, Peter Scott, said members are thrilled.

"I'm very excited about it because I really feel very strongly that it's a win, win, win situation," he said. "We are taking an existing space and with a relatively modest amount of funding . . . we are going to turn a little sow's ear into a silk purse."

Scott said as far back as two decades ago, there was talk in town about developing a performing arts center to showcase the talent in the community. The town is home to the Wakefield Repertory Theater, the New England String Ensemble, and the high school's music and theater groups.

About seven years ago, Scott and others began pursuing the idea in a more active way, launching what came to be the Center for the Performing Arts Inc.

The group's original plan - a performing arts center next to the high school - was conceived with the hope that half of the $7.5 million cost would be reimbursed by the state as a school construction project. But that idea fizzled in late 2005 when the state's School Building Authority issued rules that made the project ineligible for funding.

The group then started looking for other ways to provide new performance space, settling on the idea of converting the high school lecture hall.

Developed in the 1960s, the 4,000-square-foot, 150-seat hall is currently used as makeshift rehearsal space by the school's theater department. But its limited seating capacity and its worn and outmoded condition render it unsuitable for most theatrical and musical performances.

The high school generally uses the Galvin Middle School auditorium for those events. Before deciding on the current project, Scott's group had looked at renovating that facility as an option. He said that project may be tackled in the future, after the high school conversion is completed.

The group embraced the idea of using the high school lecture hall after Scott, an architect, scoped out the space and concluded that "If we tore it out and rebuilt it nicely, it could hold 275 seats."

Just over a year ago, a Boston architectural firm hired by the group came up with a conceptual plan providing for the seating, along with new theater lighting and sound systems, a new floor surface, and facilities to make the space accessible to the handicapped.

The $750,000 project is being funded with $375,000 secured in this year's state budget by state Senator Richard R. Tisei, a Wakefield Republican, and $375,000 the performing arts group is raising privately.

Scott said the group has raised about $50,000 to date. In addition to the $375,000, it is looking to raise $65,000 to cover the cost of the seats, which are not part of the project budget.

Last month, the town's Permanent Building Committee, which is overseeing the project, awarded a $50,000 contract to Sloan Associates of Winchester to prepare a final design for the project. The town plans to award a contracting bid by April 22. Construction is set to begin June 15 and be completed by Sept. 15.

"We're very excited about the prospect of having a legitimate performing arts space within the school," said Elinor Freedman, high school principal. "This is one of the few high schools in Massachusetts that doesn't even have an auditorium.

"We'll be able to have concerts, plays, class meetings, guest speakers, and hopefully attract some of the many arts groups in the Wakefield area to come to the school," added Freeman, "and thus enhance the arts experiences we are offering to our students and the community."

Emily Holmes, the school's drama director and an active participant in the effort to develop a new performing space, is also thrilled to see the idea come to fruition.

A 2000 graduate of Wakefield Memorial High School, where she was president of the drama club as a senior, Holmes recalled performing in many shows in the lecture hall. "So I understand its limitations both from an actor's perspective and a director's perspective - and they are numerous."

Holmes said the new facility also will add a technical component to her theater arts classes, providing students with an opportunity to learn skills such as how to hang, focus, and design theatrical lighting.

"I'm very excited about that," she said.

John Laidler can be reached at laidler@globe.com.