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2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 Search This Site: AAC History, Part III: Posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 Serene Farmer, Bud Hill and Roz Moulder share their memories of the 1980's and the building of the new theater. The following is the third in a series of interviews being conducted in celebration of our 50th anniversary. We are traveling through the decades, using memories of those who have been influential in the Arts Center’s history along the way. The 1980’s saw some tough times for the Arts Center. With the building on West 13th Street up and open in 1973, and the music wing added in 1976, the next major area of development came with the addition of the theater wing in 1987. However, problems in leadership and finances almost kept this dream from becoming a reality. Before the theater wing was added, the Arts Center had a small stage, located in what is now the music wing. According to Bud Hill, former president of the Ashtabula Arts Center Board of Trustees, the area used for theater was more like a multi-purpose room than an actual, functional stage. “It wasn’t functional for doing major plays,” he says. “The stage was small, there was no wing space, no dressing area, nothing.” Theater veteran Roz Moulder acted on the old stage at the Center. “While any stage is wonderful,” she says, “we had no dressing rooms, we used to dress in the music room with the grand piano. We had to get people out of lesson rooms for ‘real’ dressing rooms so we were separated, men and women.” According to Moulder, the old stage posed a problem not just in getting dressed, but in making performances come to life. “I’m one of the very few people left who remember that old stage, and how we had to improvise to do ‘Cabaret’ ... I don’t know how we did it, with our wonderful stage and space we have now,” she says. Due to a greater interest in theater throughout the area, it was eventually decided that a space needed to be build to specifically house the theater arts. In 1980 the Arts Center applied for and was granted the funds from the Civic Development Corporation (CDC) to move Straw Hat Theatre from its old location at Walnut Beach (where it was falling victim to vandalism) to the grounds of the new AAC building. At the same time, the AAC requested funds to build a new performing arts wing within the main building. On June 4, 1986, ground was broken for the new theater. However, many problems would befall the Center during the building phases of the wing. According to Hill, this was a particularly bad time, as the Center was changing directors and going through some serious financial difficulty. The CDC was keeping a close eye on the Arts Center’s bills, trying to make sure the Center got out of debt and still kept production on the new theater going at the same time. “I think (the CDC’s) thought was that if you guys are going to go under, why should we continue to give you more money?” says Beth Koski, current AAC excutive director and board member during the 1980’s. However, it was with the help of some very dedicated individuals and businesses that the theater finally took shape. The Arts Center still needed more money (beyond the CDC grant) to build and equip the theater, and so major fundraisers were launched, one of which being the selling of the nameplates on each of the theater chairs. “Everyone wanted their name on a chair,” says Serene Farmer, former board member and building committee chairman. “We couldn’t actually go out and raise funds (because of the CDC grant), but we could ‘sell’ the seats,” says Hill. Actually, the fundraiser was so successful that they were able to put a nameplate on each arm of each chair. “I don’t think anyone has ever mentioned to me the fact that we have more chair names than we have chairs,” says Farmer. Once the actual building was up and open, many hours - both working and volunteer - were put into getting the theater ready for opening night. The chairs were extracted from the old Shea Theatre downtown, and refurbished through help from Goodwill Industries and the Astatic Corporation. Farmer visited at least six theaters around the Cleveland area to decide on the color of the inside walls, which were spray painted by personell from several area companies. Actually, Koski says that all of the painting in that whole wing was done completely by volunteers. When the theater finally opened in a Gala Celebration on January 31, 1987, it was a far cry from the well-equipped theater we all know today. Because the budget was so tight, there was no money to equip the theater, meaning there were no curtains and only a meager lighting system. Still, the space was considered by many to be the best around. “The opening of the new theater was just the most magnificent thing for us on the stage,” says Moulder, who has since acted many times on the new GB stage. “We were told at our celebration that our space is better than many Off-Broadway theaters. The whole thing has just improved so much.” The first theater performance held on the new stage was Neil Simon’s “The Good Doctor,” staged February 6-8 and 13-15, 1987.