Hey, Buddy! Wanna Buy a Theater?

A Few Things This week's article is mostly about one thing, but there were other things that I wanted to share with you. Here are those things, in condensed form: (1) The 2014 Culturetrack survey results are in. If you don't know what that is, it's a survey of Americans' attendance at and attitude toward cultural events. (2) The annual the one in Russia. (3) Did you know that there are other Fringe Festivals in America? Also, did you know that Minnesota Fringe Director Jeff Larson added "get quoted by CNN" to his bucket list just so he could cross it off? Astoundingly true! (4) The Regional Tony Award was specifically invented to recognize theaters outside of New York City. They got rid of that restriction this year, and, surprise, surprise, it was awarded to a company in New York City. (5) Speaking of the Tony Awards, the nominations for the rest of the them came out. The Tonys proved this year that they do not like two things: (a) movie and TV stars trying to cut it on Broadway (except for Neil Patrick Harris, because everyone loves Neil Patrick Harris); and (b) female playwrights. Don't worry, Broadway: Minnesota has the cure for your ills. Penumbra Theater just announced a season they've named "Womensong"; and Seth Lepore has some words on failure for those of you passed over for the big nominations. So, I hope you enjoyed those things. Here is the other thing that I was going to talk about: Old Hollywood Is Over In my neighborhood up here in beautiful Northeast Minneapolis, there is a large, old, empty building looming over a stretch of Johnson Street, fenced in, crumbling and almost forgotten. This is the Hollywood Theater. Built in 1934, this art deco movie house was state of the art for its time, with a large, open interior and an indoor cooling system that ran off cold water from a well in the basement. The last film ran at the Hollywood in 1987, and the building has been empty ever since, even though it was designated as a historic landmark in 1990. The city of Minneapolis acquired the place in 1993, and has been trying various schemes to unload it on a developer ever since. The FOR SALE sign was on the outside, but no one came knocking, and the place remained empty. Well, not entirely empty. The small theatre community stepped in to breathe a little life into a few times. I saw Theatre Pro Rata's production of Waiting For Godot and Savage Umbrella's The Ravagers there. Both shows were perfectly suited for the gloomy, crumbling, dusty atmosphere. And I mean literally dusty. The folks at Pro Rata hauled out decades of accumulated dust in bags before opening the space to the public. After 21 years, Minneapolis is going to take down the FOR SALE sign on the Hollywood; and, no, friends, it is not an intrepid theatre company that will take it over. The city is handing the keys over to a developer for one lousy dollar. The developer the city is working with has resurrected other decrepit buildings, but it's doubtful that the $1.9 million needed to bring the Hollywood up to modern standards will be spent on making it a movie or live performance venue. The Dream of Space I'm sure almost every itinerant theatre company in the Twin Cities harbors the same secret dream: to make a new theatre space. We drive past old, forgotten places like the Hollywood and think to ourselves, "God, if we only had the money…" We poke around our neighborhoods, peruse craigslist posts, stare at warehouses and fantasize about the day that we have the millions of dollars it would take to retrofit a building like the Hollywood into a grand theatre space. I myself had been eyeing a piece of vacant property that happened to be the former home of the Margolis Brown company. Unfortunately, once again, owners of a space wanted more money than anyone was willing to pay, and the place has been empty for years (excluding that one time the Occupy people broke in). The county acquired this property through tax forfeiture and unceremoniously put it on the auction block before anyone who didn't happen to have $37,000 in cash on hand could pull together funds. The property sold, and another beautiful theatre dream will be carved up for redevelopment. Over in St. Paul, a cabal of artists and community activists is trying to resurrect the Victoria Theater on University Avenue. According to the terms of the deal the group worked out in January with the Twin Cities Community Land Bank, they have a total of 18 months to pay the $250,000 the Land Bank used to acquire the property, and this is before any money to renovate the space comes into play. There is no word yet on how the fundraising effort is going, but they still have 14 months left. Whatever Happened To…? Dreams are expensive things to turn into reality, which is why the vast majority of companies in town do not have their own spaces. This is especially sad, because the Twin Cities used to be awash in neighborhood spaces reserved for both movies and performing arts. A fascinating recent article from Frederick Melo at the Pioneer Press (which I found reprinted in Insurance News Net) details the life, death and rebirth of many of these performance houses. Unfortunately, theatre is not usually compatible with the whole "economics" thing, and most of the old theaters are now variations on retrofitted commercial space, the fate that most likely awaits the Hollywood. However, there are exceptions. The Mounds Theatre in St. Paul was rescued by a community group from a life as a warehouse and restored as a performance venue. The Southern Theatre in Minneapolis was originally a performance venue that went through a tumultuous life as a porno theater, a mechanic's garage, a warehouse, a gift shop and a restaurant, only to be resurrected by the Guthrie as a temporary second stage before being turned over to a community group. Making Things Out of Other Things However, we can't let our nostalgia for the theater spaces of old hamstring us. Times have moved on. Neighborhoods, economics and performance styles have changed. Not all theatre wants to be in a sumptuous old proscenium setting, which is why the theater community is always hard at work carving out and converting new spaces in the same way that old spaces were carved up and converted into storefronts and condos. The boys at Gremlin Theatre converted the loading dock of a retrofitted factory building before moving on to a former storefront and then moving on to… well, somewhere else; we don't know yet. The Theatre Garage used to be a literal garage (though they are part of a scheme to build a brand new facility). Up in my neck of the woods, Nimbus Theatre converted a former warehouse and machine shed. Mixed Blood still proudly occupies its defunct fire station. Organizations like ArtSpace work year-round to develop old buildings into new places to play. The Twin Cities is in the middle of a giant spacial flux. As the new light rail line that will finally link the cities comes online, major renovations will be happening to our neighborhoods. The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, currently home to a unique concentration of theatre spaces, will have stops for both of the light rail lines, meaning that these theaters will find themselves in ground zero of a new construction boom. But as the condos go up, older spaces will get turned over, and more places like the Hollywood and the old Margolis Brown studio will be up for grabs. However, if you're looking, don't limit yourself to places where people have performed before. Look for the old dentist office, the former church, the empty storefront. These are your ins. The landscape of the city is changing, things are up in the air, but it won't last forever. If you're serious, now is the time. And if you are serious, would you build that space up here in Northeast? I just want to have enough of them up here so that the Fringe Festival will have a Northeast hub. A selfish request? Yes, but it's my blog. ==UPDATE!== After the post above was originally published, I received a message from Nathan Schilz, who has been working from the community side to help get development on the Hollywood Theater moving: "I sat in on an Audobon Neighboorhood meeting and have had discussions with the city about the Hollywood property. While the property is being sold to Andrew for $1, the second he takes ownership, he will have a couple hundred thousand dollars in safety violations to mitigate. And, while it's true that it's being sold to a developer, he still doesn't have a tenant. Not a single person has come up to him. He wants to make it like he did the Clockwork and lease it to an intrepid young tech startup. However, the property is landlocked, so the company can have no plans of growth. Parking is also an issue with the property. "As a Minnesota Historical Society landmark, there are, I think, 32 elements that must remain intact. Firstly, it must remain looking like a theatre. The ticket box offices much remain, the marquee must be rehabbed -- even elements such as the huge, spacial open-air of the lobby must remain. Essentially, Andrew's plan consists of rehabbing what is necessary to show the glory of the building and using that to lure potential lessors. As of right now, there is no concrete plan for the space. "As far as numbers go, Mr. Volna gave me an approximate figure of about $10k in rent needed per month for leasing. I still think there's a viable theatre option in the facility, but Andrew admits that he knows nothing about theatre, the business model, nor going rates. "So, the Hollywood is still very much in play, but I think it'd take three stable performing companies to band together and make a big commitment on it, start pooling resources, and get to their grant writing tables." Nathan is still working to find partners who might eventually become future tenants of the Hollywood and ultimately shape what the building will become. If you are interested, you can contact him at [email protected]. He can also give you a complete rundown of the 32 elements of the space that must remain intact under the Historical Landmark designation.