Campbell River’s community theatre group raised the curtain Saturday on its re-vamped headquarters.
Rivercity Players welcomed the public to an open house, which included a ribbon cutting and tours of the premises by Rivercity members.
The extensive renovations were showcased in a short video created by Rivercity’s Sandra Chow.
Renovations began in January and are still in a sense, on-going.
The studio, named in honour of the late Michelle Nelson Woodrow – Rivercity’s former landlord who donated the building at 1080 Hemlock to the group – has undergone renovations to the stage and there is new sound equipment at the back of the studio.
The viewing area also has seats new to Rivercity, which came from Victoria and the aisles have almost been doubled in width in order to bring the building up to code as a performance venue. Rivercity plans to hold its next show, a comedy called Sin, Sex and the CIA, in the newly renovated theatre but is waiting for its final building inspection which is expected to happen within the next couple of weeks.
Off to the sides of the performance area, a few new rooms have been added – including a room for construction.
Walls in the back rooms have been built and existing ones upgraded so that they are all fireproof.
Rivercity is also hoping to make changes to the front end of the building, including adding an office space and a ticket booth which would open up onto Hemlock Street.
John Godfrey, a member of Rivercity, said future improvements are expected to be complete within a year. Saturday’s open house gave the public a chance to see Rivercity’s hard work and its ultimate vision.
