Lights! Roofing! Action!
Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., is nearing the completion of a multi-year, half-a-million-dollar renovation this month.
Through Monday, Jan. 19, 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 that also included upgrading all of the theater’s lighting, 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 — establish an endowment and repair every component of the theater so it would be set for the next 20-30 years to be relatively repair-free.
The project began as a campaign to replace lights in winter 2022, he said, and 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 lighting options to cover more zones, 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 before, 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 approximately half coming through grants and the other half from community donations and earned income at the theater.
Washington Department of Commerce’s 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 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.
For more about the theater’s 2026 season, its endowment, and other activities, visit olympictheatrearts.org, or reach staff at 360-638-7326 or office@olympictheatrearts.org.
Up next for OTA is the Out Loud Story Slam at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, improv comedy with Imagined Reality at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, 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,” going from Feb. 6-22.
Photo courtesy of Olympic Theatre Arts As part of Olympic Theatre Art’s Energy Renovation Upgrade Project, new lighting has been installed, including on the Elaine and Robert Caldwell Main Stage that allows for new and improved lighting effects.
Photo courtesy of Olympic Theatre Arts/ New lighting and robotic lights at Olympic Theatre Arts allow volunteers and staff to light areas in new and innovative ways that were previously impossible to do or cumbersome to change.
