Chamber of Commerce Donates $20,000
June 2006: Jaffrey’s Chamber of Commerce is the first to help the Park Theatre Board of Trustees restore Jaffrey’s only ‘moving picture theatre’. Nearly every year of the 5 years of the Monadnock Arts Auction, Jaffrey’s Chamber of Commerce has set aside funds raised from our artistic community to underwrite the restoration of The Park Theatre. On Monday, June 12, President Susan Peterson presented a check for $20,000 to Caroline Hollister, President of the Board of Trustees, and Marie Cassady, Executive Director of the Park Theatere.
“The Chamber’s foresight and generosity, its belief and support of our community makes the first step in reopening The Park Theatre possible,” said Caroline Hollister on the occasion of the check’s presentation.
The Park Theatre board has entered what is often called ‘the quiet phase’. “We’re doing a lot of thinking and planning,” explained Marie Cassady, Park Theatre Executive Director. “The first thing we need to do is to see what we have.”
In theater lingo it’s called a “dark house”. When the lights go out, the stage is silenced, the screen is dark, and the seats are empty. Jaffrey’s Park Theatre has been dark for 30 years. But thanks to the generous donations of many individuals and businesses over the past 3 years, the lights are coming back on. The Park Theatre Board of Trustees, volunteers from Sharon, Keene, Dublin, Jaffrey and Rindge, bought the theatre from Nancy and Roy Stone on February 15 of this year - because of the donations from more than 700 people in eleven towns around the mountain and 13 states across the country.
Nancy and Roy Stone reduced the price of the theatre which has given the board the ability to maintain the building and cover routine expenses while decisions are made about what the building will look like and how it will function.
In April, Caroline Hollister introduced The Park Theatre administrative team: Marie Cassady, Executive Director; Tom Doane, Visual Historian; Christine Doane, Data and Record Management; Don Nelson, Publicist; and Chris Luksha, Webmaster.
In May, the board hired the services of Daniel V. Scully Architects (DVS/A) to assess the building and provide preliminary designs that will meet the needs of school and community groups as well as professional area performers and touring theatre troupes. Part of the decisions that are in the works is what stays and what goes in the 83 year old building. The entry moon doors have long been a signature feature of the theatre. Romolo Vanni sent to Italy for the black marble with green and blue veins running through it that sits atop the moon doors. He wanted the building to be an elegant place for his adopted town.
Time has taken its toll. Sills are rotted, all existing staircases are undersized and all of the electrical elements and plumbing and heating have to be replaced. There are no fire walls or sprinklers as are now required in wood frame buildings for public assembly. Jaffrey’s Building Inspector and Fire Chief, along with a representative of the State Fire Marshall’s office went through the building this spring and reported that the 1935 iron trusses in the stage end of the theatre were in “good shape and up to code – and that was about all.”
In a way,” Executive Director Cassady said, “It’s all good news. With as much work as the building requires the possibilities for renovation are endless. We will be able to accomodate the wide variety of groups that need this space with the most up-to-date facilities since we are basically starting from scratch. The murals can be removed and restored and Roy has already restored one of the two massive Art Deco sconce lights. The board is off to a good start.”
The Board of Trustees recently created vision statement has put words to what it intends to do. “The Park Theatre will be a regional center for the arts and entertainment, a meeting place for the community, and a dynamic force in the region’s vitality and quality of life.”
