A Las Vegas hand-me-down and an unfortunate fire on the Bethany University campus have helped the college revamp its venue for the performing arts.
The Bethany University Community Theater has been completely gutted and remodeled with theater seating, a new stage, carpet, lights and sound system in what is estimated to be a $500,000 remodel.
“We are thrilled,” said Lewis Shelton, Bethany University president.
“It gives a nice sense of progress to the school,” Shelton said. “This is one more little thing that gives students, faculty and staff a little bit of hope that we are going to see some change and see some progress.”
But the remodel went on hold last year after the university removed the old theater seating because there were no fire sprinklers in the building. To install new seating — 320 slightly used seats donated as a tax deduction by the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas — the university needed to install a sprinkler system that cost $60,000, said Bethany’s David Glover.
The college did not have a way to pay for the sprinklers until the café burned down last summer. After the fire, the food service operation moved to the campus chapel, bumping chapel services and classes that previously met there into the theater.
In the wake of this development, the college convinced its insurance company to pay a large portion of the cost to install sprinklers in order to make the theater safe for the increased chapel activity.
After the sprinklers, the seats were installed.
But the chairs are another story.
Word went out to the father of a Bethany employee that the university was looking for theater seating. Sure enough, he found seats that had been taken out of the Bellagio Hotel and stored in a warehouse in Bakersfield. The seats were in the hotel for a year, but too many guests had complained about them being too narrow for their liking, so they were removed, said Jeff Swan of Scotts Valley Performing Arts.
Bethany officials contacted the hotel, which agreed to donate the seating to the university as a tax write-off. And a group of students drove down and picked up the 320 seats, Swan said.
The university also installed a new electrical and lighting system, a high-definition video projector and a 22-foot screen. A new stage that’s more conducive to viewing from the audience replaced the old stage as well.
The word “community” was also added to the theater’s name — to reflect Bethany’s openness to hosting community events.
“The whole purpose behind the theater remodel is to include the community and open (Bethany’s) doors to the community,” Swan said. “They have not slipped once in that commitment.”
Already, Scotts Valley Performing Arts, Golden Crow Theater, Pacific Collegiate School, Georgianna Bruce Kirby School and the Scotts Valley Exchange Club use the stage throughout the year. SVPA, which donated a portion of the lighting and many hours of labor, will host its annual Broadway Cabaret fundraiser Feb. 27 at the theater, 800 Bethany Drive.
