SEQUIM — In the nick of time, Olympic Theatre Arts got its rebirth certificate Wednesday — after 35 months of off-stage drama.
That precious piece of paper, placed in the window next to OTA’s brand-new $1.6 million theater, is an occupancy permit from the city of Sequim — something it had snatched away three Februaries ago.
In early 2007, the community theater group was demolishing the northern half of its building, an old Methodist church that used to be the Boys & Girls Club.
The plans were for a new arts center that would house plays both, modern and classical, and even present Broadway shows like “Cabaret.”
But then-Public Works Director James Bay ruled the building unsafe for public occupancy, and OTA was forced to take “Auntie Mame,” the show being staged in the smaller adjacent hall, over to Sequim High School.
In the ensuing years the troupe kept the productions coming, staging musicals and dramas at venues around town; all the while a whole other band of volunteers kept working on the new theater.
Slowly, from the ground up, it took shape.
Then, there was light
Then, last fall, a light began to show at the end of the tunnel.
Construction of and fundraising for the main stage were hurtling through that tunnel, and Elaine Caldwell, chief engineer of OTA’s outreach, predicted the new theater would open in February.
“Cabaret,” with a cast of 37, an eight-piece band and a crew of 40, began rehearsing.
Caldwell and the rest of OTA’s board of trustees orchestrated still more fundraisers: breakfast with Santa in December, high teas in January, sponsorships for each of the theater’s 163 seats.
The final dress rehearsal of “Cabaret” was set for Feb. 3 — Wednesday — and Caldwell and crew invited a full house to come see it.
This preview would be a thank-you, she said, to the many who helped make the theater happen.
Opening night was slated for Friday, so Caldwell planned a champagne reception and invited OTA’s major supporters.
Among those who have RSVP’d are U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, the Belfair Democrat who represents the North Olympic Peninsula in Congress.
He helped OTA win a $98,000 construction grant last year from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Depended on city official
Yet all of these festivities depended on Ann Hall, Sequim’s building official.
She arrived Wednesday afternoon at the theater, and spent half an hour inspecting the stage, the seats, the stairways and the corners.
She issued the occupancy permit at 1:45 p.m., said OTA business manager Loren Johnson.
Cue the symphony orchestra. The big show will go on, and it will go on the big stage.
Or, save the music for curtain time and just sink into one of the seats and smile, as Caldwell did.
Turns out Wednesday was her birthday, as well as the theater’s.
“It’s been a long labor,” Caldwell joked. “But it’s birthed . . . this is your community theater. It shows a solidity in this community,” she said.
On the west wall of the playhouse is a list of many donors who shared the OTA vision. Beside their names is another tribute to still others who’ve poured their hearts into the place.
“Volunteers,” the donor wall reads, “are our strength, our joy, and our constant hope.”
Those volunteers were vacuuming, tweaking the lights and simply sighing Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the curtain would rise for the preview.
“We’re just pinching ourselves,” said Berta Warden, a board trustee and organizer of many a fundraiser.
“Cabaret,” with its elaborate sets, scores of costumes and $6,600 royalty fee, looks and sounds like a giant leap of faith, Caldwell acknowledged.
But she and the board believe it fits this space, which is itself built on faith.
To sharpen her point, Caldwell quotes a line in the show.
“It is not always a good thing to settle for the lowest apple on the tree, the one easiest to reach. Climb up, a little way,” Herr Schultz, played by Lee Harwell, says to Jayna Orchard’s Fraulein Schneider.
“It is worth it! Up there,” he says, “the apples are so much more delicious!”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
