By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Inside the Black Swamp Players’ Oak Street Theatre it looks like a construction zone.
Even as a handful members of the board and supporters gathered Saturday morning to hear an update on turning the building into an entertainment venue, Michael Shaffer and Lane Hakel are making a racket.
As counterintuitive as it may seem ,they are busy ripping out the existing stage, and hauling the debris to a dumpster out front.
In order to reach their lofty goal of finally having their own home after 53 years of providing entertainment to the community, the loft in the space has also been torn out.
Amid these scenes of deconstruction, a white model plywood is placed – this is the stuff dreams are made of.
The Players have gathered to discuss the future, and after a half-century of stage surfing, it looks promising.
As of Jan. 11, they own the space, a building constructed as a church and then used for many years as a day care. Inge Klopping, a member of the project’s steering committee, said the Players paid $175,000 for the property.
Now it has to undergo another transformation.
Thanks to $200,000 in state capital funding and a new anonymous matching gift of $100,000 added to $70,000 already raised, they have the funds to get started on the renovation. They estimate that will cost about $500,000.
The white model is being used to determine just what form the new theater will take.
Where will the dressing room or rooms be? How will the venue be made handicapped accessible? How will sets be managed?
And where will the rest rooms be?
That’s all taking shape, said Chip Hutchings, a retired construction project manager.
The model shows an extension on the front of the building bringing it out 11 feet closer to Oak Street. This would provide the space for the new rest rooms. There will also be a lift installed to the right of the addition to make the venue accessible. The main entrance under the belfry will stay where it is.
A coat room may be added inside.
The light and sound booth will be located up a winding staircase in the front of the house.
The dressing area will be on the second floor behind the stage, and a restroom will be added. Right now, the building’s restrooms are in the basement and scaled for the tots who until several years ago occupied the space.
The main area will be opened up. The space will serve as a “black box theater” that can be arranged in a variety of ways depending on the needs of the production.
That also provides a flexible space for all kinds of receptions and events, said Klopping.
Hutchings said that the theater could also serve as a venue for music. Maybe a “mini-Ark,” he said, referencing the iconic folk music venue in Ann Arbor. Or a space for BGSU music students to present community recitals, Klopping said.
It could also serve as an art gallery.
First the board and steering committee must nail down just what their vision is. Then they’ll seek out proposals from three architects. Once one is selected, and that shouldn’t take more than a few weeks, work will begin.
They hope the theater will be ready for shows in the fall season, if the pandemic allows.
Not that the sound of hammers will be all that’s heard on Oak Street until then.
The place will be cleared out so a production can be staged in April. Billed as “The Black Swamp Players Radio Hour” it will consist of two one act plays directed by Klopping. That show will have a limited audience, as well as being livestreamed.
The Players are also collaborating with troupes in Toledo to present at the Ohio Theatre in May.
Looking into the future in their new home, Hakel said: “We’ll be a different theater than we have been. But’s that’s OK.”
