New additions are being made by Greenwood Little Theatre at its new home in Davis Elementary Auditorium.
In anticipation of signing a 10-year lease extension on the building, Pam Powers, Bob Draper and Nichole Buchanan, members of the theater’s board, discussed new lighting and sound equipment as well as other improvements that have been made and planned for the space.
The theater is due to receive a new lighting system that will be mounted above and on the sides of the stage before April’s production of “Seussical, Jr.” The system will be able to be controlled wirelessly, Draper said.
Also, Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale has donated state-of-the-art equipment for the theater’s use.
A group met with Dr. Jerryl Briggs, president of Mississippi Valley State University, “to talk with him about the improvements we are making to the auditorium and advance our partnership with Valley,” said Powers, board president.
Little Theatre entered into a formal partnership with Mississippi Valley State University when GLT signed in 2021 its initial lease, set at the time for four years, with the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District.
The presence of an orchestra pit inside Davis Auditorium prompted a desire by the board to incorporate live music into productions, which will be put to its greatest use so far in April. “We’re going to have a live jazz band in the pit before the shows,” Powers said of “Seussical Jr.”
“One of the things we’re working toward is a partnership to have students earn not just volunteer credit but
academic credit as well,” she explained.
Draper added that these credits would be for necessary theatrical components, such as designing and building sets and running audio and visual effects.
The school district has repainted the walls of the auditorium. The district also removed some of the rows of seating as a convenience for GLT.
The theater has ordered cushions for the roughly 1,300 wooden seats in the auditorium, which should soften what has been the main complaint about the new venue. The cushions must be manually installed and bolted to the seats. This will require the theater to remove the seats, install the cushions and then reinstall the seats.
“It’s going to take a lot of volunteer effort to get that done,” Powers said.
The theater also has installed security keypads for the auditorium, updated dressing rooms and plumbing and added a bathroom to the backstage area while updating another.
GLT plans to update as well the grounds outside the auditorium with new sidewalks and paving as well as more handicap-accessible parking and a breezeway to shield people from the weather.
“It’s been a win-win,” Draper said of the partnership between the theater and school district. He said the GLT board voted in favor of a 10-year extension even before the initial lease comes up for renewal because “it’s been beautiful and it worked out, so there’s no reason not to.”
Powers said all of the work on the venue is a significant investment by GLT. The amount spent and expected to be spent is estimated to be close to $110,000, she said.
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
