Venice Theatre gives a tour of Ian’s wrath, the steps forward since
KIM COOL OUR TOWN EDITOR EMERITUS. PHOTOS BY KIM COOL
VENICE — Kristofer Geddie, Venice Theatre’s executive director, added yet another task to his duties at the number two community theatre in the U.S. — tour guide.
In a special tour given to the Venice Area Historical Society recently, Geddie showed just what happened to the theater during and after Hurricane Ian — and how the theater is making big leaps forward.
Before leading a tour of the buildings, Geddie spoke about the days since Hurricane Ian came to Venice in 2022 and destroyed the recently renovated William H. Jervey Jr. mainstage at Venice Theatre.
The morning after Ian ravaged the city, residents of a high-rise near Venice Theatre noticed something big missing to the east — the stagehouse of Venice Theatre. All but the steel beams had been blown away during the night.
“It’s Gone”
“It’s gone,” was a common comment that morning on Facebook.
Erected in 1989 above the main stage of Venice Theatre, the stage house would allow the Venice Little Theatre to move into the upper strata of community theaters in the U.S. and to drop the word “Little” from the theater’s original name.
Loss of that stage house allowed hurricane-force winds and rain to rip away lights, turn the stage curtains into ribbons, soak the stage and then overflow into the auditorium where it destroyed new carpeting and new seats in the recently renovated Jervey auditorium at a cost in excess of $1 million that year.
That figure was for that space only but the theater suffered far more as offices, costumes, equipment and so much more were either soaked or simply blown apart by Ian’s wrath.
The costs climbed day by the day as more damages were discovered.
The William H. Jervey Jr. mainstage and its 432-seat auditorium were destroyed. Dressing rooms and second floor offices would not be habitable for some time. Costumes and more had to be sent to Texas to be saved.
That cost alone was in excess of $3 million. As was shown on the tour, that was money well spent and the cost far less than to replace all those items.
Destroyed Seats, Lost Revenue
While theater employees quickly created an alternate mainstage in the Raymond Center, which was about to be repurposed as the theater’s education building, its 130-seat space was some 300 seats short of the number of seats usually filled for mainstage shows — a major loss of revenue for what is now moving into its third year.
Last week, the tour for the Venice Area Historical Society began in the only area of the building not affected by Ian — the front entrance lobby, bar areas, staircase and balcony, plus restrooms plus the 90-seat blackbox theater named for the late Yvonne Pinkerton.
There was a little water intrusion in the Pinkerton area. Geddie said that space was ready for use in fewer than 60 days.
Within just a few more weeks, Venice Theatre’s tech crew created the new but smaller mainstage, outfitted with seats borrowed from Manatee Players and others and, most of all, figured out how to professionally light productions with no stage house, let alone even a taller ceiling.
In true theater fashion, the mainstage shows would go on. Yet, even with some additional performances by cast and crew, there was a significant loss of income due to the smaller (by some 300 seats) venue.
The theater’s board president, Jean Trammell, added some words about the initial transformation of that building from the Kentucky Military Institute gymnasium. In 1979, it would become the new home of Venice Little Theatre, which had been performing in an old 1945-era Army building at Venice Airport since the theater’s founding in 1950.
It seems that because there were no keys to the former KMI building, once papers making the building the property of Venice Theatre were signed, Trammell and the man who would be her husband had to break into the building.
Whatever keys had existed had vanished.
The Trammells continue to be ardent supporters of the theater, which now has many more doors and two additional buildings, plus all the keys to open them — except for the doors blown away by Ian, of course.
Last week during the tour, Pinkerton Theatre was being prepared for the opening of Moliere’s “The Learned Ladies,” directed by VT’s artistic director Benny Sato Ambush. It will be performed April 11 to May 4.
The set by assistant production manager Brian Freeman was nearing completion. One of the many volunteers who had painted the French drawing room that was transforming the 90-seat “black box” theater yet again shared her part in painting the drawing room’s columns for the production.
Sato Ambush was early for rehearsal and shared a bit about the coming production before the tour group moved to the backstage area of that theater space.
Seeing Some of the Restoration
Some restoration work had been completed in that area.
We saw a new room for musicians and a new dressing room with racks of costumes for the coming production. Across the hall was the replacement sewing room with some 12 Bernina sewing machines — one in use.
Also in the room are containers of findings from zippers to military buttons and more. There also were many costumes in process or completed, plus an area of wigs.
From there, we headed back to the front lobby and stairs or elevator to the theater’s second floor. At the top of the staircase and in the “Presidents Room” were many more costumes. Also along the balcony are hundreds of additional costumes from past shows — all restored and ready to be used again at Venice or loaned to another area theatre.
“We share costumes and props with the other theaters,” Geddie said, adding that all the theaters help one another.
Heading from there down a ramp to the west side of the building, we found a former rehearsal room that had been renovated and was in use by a group either for a class or a coming production.
A snack room looked unchanged from before Ian. Down the hall toward the back of the building, there were countless boxes of costumes and props.
The rooms on the west side of the building have sturdy ceiling beams that no doubt saved this area from Ian’s wrath. Racks of carefully sorted (by style, gender and size) clothing filled those rooms with barely enough room for those of us on the tour.
Seeing the Damage in a Dramatic Way
The last site on the tour was the view from room behind the balcony. Home to tech directors during shows, this space now offers the best view of the worst of the damage from Hurricane Ian.
Not otherwise open for any reason, this was the star attraction of the tour.
The old girders are gone. Some roof remains but will be fortified to support the new and taller (to meet current codes) stage house. We learned the steel is in Ocala and will soon find its way to 140 West Tampa Avenue.
Once the stagehouse begins to rise above the stage area, newcomers to the area will finally know what was destroyed in September 2022 by Hurricane Ian.
Fundraising has moved into phase three of the theater’s restoration. Sadly, costs continue to climb.
To donate any amount, send a check to Venice Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Avenue, Venice, Florida or click here to donate now. To double your donation thanks to a matching grant from the city of Venice, be sure to mark on the memo line of your check that the check is for the city match or select city match from the online menu.
To learn about naming opportunities, including mainstage theater seats at $7,500 per seat, special rooms such as the Green Room where cast and crew relax, a handicap-accessible staircase to serve the stage house, other rooms or theater equipment, call Camille Cline at 941-867-8607 or contact her by email at camille@venicetheatre.net.