Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning

Have you ever been too hot or cold in the State Theater? Our HV/AC system was expensive and inefficient. One of four units had died. The other three were limping to keep up with the building's needs and our power bills skyrocketed as a result. To add insult to injury, one of the units became so noisy that we couldn't run it during performances. Then two of the three semi-functional units froze up during rehearsals for The Love LIst and the interior temperature dropped to 40 degrees. If this had happened during performances, we would have had to close the show.

Fortunately for everyone, we successfully completed the installation of a brand new heating/air conditioning system in July, 2007. Now we're warm as toast in the winter, cool as a cucumber in the summer, and we're saving lots of money while we're at it. Thank you to Oliver Reconstruction, Sunset Air, Reliable Electric, Building for the Arts, and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Roof Replacement and Insulation

The roof had also passed its useful life and leaked badly over the stage, lighting system and storage areas. Our insurance company inspected the building and told us to either fix the roof or lose our insurance. It was that bad. The building itself was not in danger, since the entire thing is built out of concrete and steel, but the membrane covering it was shot and the interior was threatened.

We were finally able to insulate and replace the roof during the summer of 2008. While the crew was at it, they sealed up at least a dozen old vents that were really only serving as holes in the roof. The leaks have stopped and our consumption of natural gas has decreased by 65%. We saved over $6,000 during four months of our first winter with the new roof. Thanks to the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Allen Family Foundation, Oliver Reconstruction, Reliable Electric, Madsen Roofing and many individual donors who made this possible.

Administrative Offices

Our staff used to share a makeshift office area on the tech deck. See us working there up above the auditorium and stage? Zero privacy. Noisy and cramped. (Imagine trying to do business on the phone while the sound designer is setting volume levels for the blood-curdling screams in The Woman in Black.) It was freezing in the winter.

But recently we removed a large stairway next to the lobby that most people had never seen and created two brand new, private, warm, well-lit, comfortable offices. What a relief!

Box Office Remodel

When we bought the the State Theater, our current box office space was rented by a pottery co-op. We didn't want to kick them out and they didn't want to leave. A week before opening, however, they changed their minds and moved. With no budget and no plan, we created a "box office" in two days. After living with it for over seven years, we have a better idea that will increase efficiency, storage and audience comfort. We intend to start construction August 1, 2009.

Restore the Marquee

The marquee needed additional repairs. The paint was faded and peeling. Rust was doing its work. The neon had gone out. It was ugly. It's looking much better these days, with new paint and working neon, thanks in large part to Daniel Flint Painting.

Technical Upgrades

We're making progress here. We've made improvements to our sound and lighting systems (thank you Lassen Foundation), our computer system and phone system. We have some additional lighting, sound, and other equipment improvements yet to acquire, but we're making our way through the list.

Upper... Seating Area... Remodel

Our current auditorium is only half the size of the original auditorium. If you've been to the theater, you may not even be aware that behind you is a huge open space that is just seating risers from the first three decades of the theater's life. Right now it's just storage, but everything has to be stored on the stair-stepped risers left over from the old seating. Our plan is to level the floor and create a huge new space, separate from the auditorium, for costume storage and prop construction.

Retire the Mortgage - $500,000

This is a big one. Our mortgage was draining $50,000/year from operations. So far, we have lowered our mortage to $150,000. (So far, our monthly payments have been reduced from $5,000/ month to under $1,500/month.) We're making great progress and look forward to burning the paperwork in a bacchanalian celebration around a firepot onstage. We expect this to happen in the next two to three years.

Thank You.