Supporters hear of funding, various uses for shuttered Lincoln Theater in Port Angeles

PORT ANGELES — Before the public forum about downtown’s shuttered Lincoln Theater had even begun, the conversations were loud and lively.

In the upstairs conference room at The Landing mall Thursday evening, about 60 people gathered to hear about one vision for the 99-year-old movie house: that of a nonprofit arts center with a big stage, a small dance floor, a wide screen and about 480 seats.

Scott Nagel, executive director of Port Angeles’ Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival and former chief of the Northwest Folklife Festival of Seattle, organized the forum.

Coming together

The gathering brought together local architect Michael Gentry, Washington Arts Commission executive director Karen Hanan and Scot and Linda Whitney of Harlequin Productions, the theater company that reopened the old State Theater in Olympia.

Nagel and his wife and business partner, Karen Powell, put an offer of $235,000 on the Lincoln Theater last December, nine months after Sun Basin Theatres of Wenatchee closed it down.

They’ve since been gathering the funds, through pledged donations, to make good on the offer.

So far, $175,000 has been raised, and Nagel continues to point people toward www.RevitalizePortAngeles.org, where the “Revitalize PA Projects” and “Light Up the Lincoln” pages direct visitors to the detailed plan and the pledge form.

At the meeting, questions flew: about how to renovate the theater, whether the community will support it and, as one woman asked, how are you going to compete with Netflix?

“We already have 130 donors, 65 of which have pledged $1,000 or more,” said George Bergner, the Lincoln project’s business manager.

He considers that a good sign and noted that one anonymous supporter made a $75,000 matching donation.

Grant possible

Hanan, for her part, told the crowd that once it’s purchased, the Lincoln Theater could apply for a state Building for the Arts grant to cover up to 20 percent of the project cost.

To oohs and aahs, she projected photos of other renovated movie houses onto a big screen.

Theaters from Bremerton to Spokane have been saved from wrecking crews, Hanan said, and turned into the saviors of their downtowns.

The Whitneys know the story firsthand: They bought the abandoned State Theater nearly 20 years ago and raised $1.3 million to transform it.

They won two Building for the Arts grants, increased their staff from one to eight full-timers and now present musicals and plays year-round.

“It was a wild ride,” said Scot Whitney, “and it’s still going.”

Linda Whitney added that the restored State Theater brings $1 million annually — through jobs and surrounding business — to its community.

“Arts organizations drive local economies,” she said.

Nuts-and-bolts queries about a reborn Lincoln followed.

“Have you thought about parking?” one woman asked, while Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts board member Bruce Hattendorf wondered whether there’s enough backstage space for live theater productions.

The answers: Yes and yes.

“Downtown has a substantial amount of parking,” Bergner said, adding that valet parking might be needed on nights when a performance is sold-out.

Films, concert, plays

There is room at the back of the theater, said Nagel. And while the Lincoln will be a venue for film festivals and screenings, it will be made over into a place for concerts, plays and parties, dressing rooms and all.

Carol Philpott, a longtime member of the Port Angeles Light Opera Association, aka PALOA, praised that plan.

It became increasingly difficult to find a place for PALOA’s productions, she said, as Port Angeles High School’s auditorium got too expensive. PALOA ceased staging shows last year.

“This would be a godsend,” Philpott said of a reopened Lincoln.

A Sequim woman who identified herself as a lover of the offerings at Port Townsend’s Rose Theatre said she’d go to the Lincoln instead, not only because it’s closer but also for the communal moviegoing experience.

Yet she sees many people glued to their devices. She is well aware of Netflix and other digital content providers, and wonders whether there are enough people who’ll leave their houses and devices for a new Lincoln Theater.

The Seattle Seahawks draw easily 50,000 people to CenturyLink Field, Bergner said. They could have watched the game on their tablets or smartphones.

‘The real deal’

“The question,” he said “is: How many people want to see the real deal?”

Bergner believes a new Lincoln, with music, films, dance and theater, will draw audiences out.

As for the new Lincoln’s design, Gentry said that’s open to question, too.

“We need to engage in a design” together.

“What we’re doing tonight,” added Gentry, “is the beginning of a discussion of what might work.”

Nagel added he’s continuing to gather volunteers and ideas, and put his phone number, 360-808-3940, on the flier distributed at the forum.

It will include an open house at the theater itself. A date hasn’t been set.

Shortly before the forum ended, Hanan offered encouraging words.

“We have to think with a big vision,” she said.

“I would say: Think big if we want a world-class space.”