SEQUIM — Olympic Theatre Arts is nearing the completion of a multiyear, half-a-million-dollar renovation.
The theater’s box office will be closed in person as Integrity Roofing and Construction replaces an asphalt shingle roof with a metal roof.
It’s the final phase of OTA’s energy renovation upgrade project, which also included upgrading all of the theater’s lighting and its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, installing a deck and more.
OTA Executive Director David Herbelin said when he first started with the theater, he set two goals with the board of trustees — to establish an endowment and repair every component of the theater so it would be set for the next 20 to 30 years to be relatively repair-free.
The project began as a campaign to replace the lights in winter 2022, he said, and it morphed into the all-encompassing project.
For the theater’s Elaine and Robert Caldwell Main Stage, technical director Peter Griffin said they’ve added robotic lights and more options to cover more or areas of the stage.
“Directors were limited where they could put actors,” he said.
Now there are 22 zones on the stage, compared to eight previously, and they can use multiple colors at once rather than needing to use ladders to move and cover lights with colored gels.
Herbelin said the renovations were possible with about half coming through grants and the other half from community donations and earned income at the theater.
A state Department of Commerce Building for the Arts grant covered about $150,000 in matching funds, along with $86,500 from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and $4,000 from a Norman Archibald Charitable Grant.
The theater held a fundraiser during its production of “Nunsense,” and it received sizable donations and contributions from patrons and supporters, Herbelin said.
He said the community helped make the projects become a reality.
Herbelin’s hope is that the endowment will continue to grow and eventually support the theater’s operations and routine maintenance.
Up next for OTA is the Out Loud Story Slam at 7 p.m. Friday, improv comedy with Imagined Reality at 7 p.m. Saturday and Olympic Peninsula Panto’s “It’s not about the Hood — Bernie’s Tale,” a mash-up of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Hansel and Gretel,” from Feb. 6-22.
For more about the theater’s 2026 season, its endowment and other activities, visit olympictheatrearts.org, or call 360-638-7326 or email office@olympictheatrearts.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
