Theater readies for open house, unveiling of new lobby

A walk down Electric Avenue these days yields a different view than it did at the start of last fall, with all eyes on the new face of the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts.

After six months of construction and a total of $1.1 million in building expenses — not to mention the present frenzy of refitting the theatre in preparation for the Bigfork Summer Playhouse's 2009 season — the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts Foundation is almost ready to unveil their magnum opus to the public, a 2,500 sq. ft. lobby with curved glass, aurora borealis tiles and elegant Tiffany lighting.

"They are beside themselves with excitement," board member and public relations officer Bridget Michlig said of the foundation's board of directors. "They have been planning and preplanning for some time now. For 12 months, they went through figuring out what to do, how to do it, how they wanted the space to be used, and everything else."

The foundation has scheduled an open house for the community, which will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 15, followed by a special showing of the Bigfork Summer Playhouse's season opening musical, "Smokey Joe's Cafe."

The open house will feature cookies and punch and a grand welcome to the Bigfork community. The board of directors will be on hand during the open house to discuss the expansion and other improvements, as well as the ongoing effort to raise the funds necessary to finish paying for the project.

"They really envision awesome things for this space for the Bigfork community," Michlig said. "They want to open it up to community events and fund-raisers and strengthen the ties that the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts has with the community of Bigfork."

The first official event to be held in the new lobby will be the Bigfork Chamber luncheon, on May 7, and will serve as a way to introduce other chamber members to the finished product by highlighting some of its potential.

In all, contributions to the expansion project totaled $800,000 in cash, a $100,000 matching funds grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, some of the labor from individual contractors who helped with the project, and even a donation of real property, which was appraised at $300,000. The property is currently being held by the foundation as a fixed asset that will likely be sold when the economy is more favorable to the sale of real estate.

As for the $100,000 matching fund grant, the foundation must now raise an additional $100,000 by a certain date, relative to the time the grant was issued, and that means that the fund-raising isn't over yet. Even so, the foundation is confident that the community will continue to pull together and seal the deal, especially when they see what their contributions have already accomplished and the asset that the theatre has now become.

"All of a sudden, as you're walking down Electric Avenue, you finally see this great building. To see it in the evening, with all the lights, it is truly spectacular. I think that people are going to be drawn to it, exactly the way a moth is drawn to the flame," Michlig said.

The Bigfork Summer Playhouse, despite the May 15 preview, lists its opening night as the following evening, when "Smokey Joe's Cafe" will be followed by a meet and greet session with the cast of the musical. The cast will mingle with guests in the new lobby at that time.

According to board members, this year's shows were selected with families and musical lovers in mind. Included in this summer's rotation, in June, are shows like "Seussical The Musical," based on the classic childrens' books by Dr. Seuss, and "The Wiz," a modern stage adaptation of the timeless novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Both shows are intended to serve as a way to introduce families with children to live theater.

And for more seasoned audiences, the theatre company has thrown in the classic musical,"Singin' in the Rain," as well as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," for more mature crowds.