Upcoming Events at the Keith-Albee

My pal Dave Lavender has a great story in today's Herald-Dispatch about the renovations at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.

I have great fondness for that theater, since I worked there as a doorman when I was in college and watched countless movies. I'm proud, too, that I was involved with the first community theatre production on that stage in decades - High School Musical - and First Stage is getting ready to stage another one in March - Rugrats: The Live Adventure!

Here's Dave's story:

Junior Ross holds up a sheet of paper full from top to bottom and can't help but smile.

Coming to the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center in the next few months is everything from multiple Marshall Artists Series performances to two film festivals, a First Stage Theatre show, graduations, five weddings and three Huntington Symphony Orchestra shows.

Ross, who oversees the maintenance of the historic Keith-Albee, a 3,000-seat theater built in 1928, wants everyone to feel welcome to come on in and love the theater like he does.

"We've got just about everything," Ross said looking over the upcoming schedule of events. "We want everyone to come and use the building."

Formerly a movie theater owned by the Hyman family, the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center has been under the care of the nonprofit Keith-Albee Foundation and its 16-member board since 2006 when Derek Hyman and family handed over the keys.

In a case of restore it and they will come, it seems the Keith-Albee, which re-opened Dec. 12, 2006, for the premiere of the We Are Marshall movie, is continuing to play a strong role in the community as a venue for everything from the Marshall Artists Series to an increasingly popular choice for weddings.

Huntington attorney David Tyson, who is co-president of the foundation along with W.Va. Sen. Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, said they're happy where the Keith-Albee is at this juncture of its rebirth.

"We are turning a profit, not a large one, but in today's market, turning any profit is a good thing," Tyson said. "We're happy where it's going. Would we like to have $20 or $40 million and make it look like a palace? Sure, but we have to be realistic, and Sen. Plymale and I are pleased at the rate things are going, and that we certainly have a lot of community support."

As with most theaters in the nation, part of that support comes from a $1 ticket surcharge that goes to the theater restoration.

State grants also offer help, and Tyson said another encouraging level of support has come from a next generation of supporters, such as thirtysomething Huntington native Trey Murdock, who lives in Texas, but cares enough about his hometown theater to send in $1,200 to date to help with restoration efforts.

Tyson said with ongoing support, the Keith-Albee has made headway on some big projects in the past year.

This past summer, the Keith got a new roof over its stage, thanks to a state grant and matching local funds.

Now, Tyson said the Foundation is currently fund-raising to match a second grant that is just over $100,000. It will go toward the second phase of replacing the theater's roofs, which include the largest roof over the theater "house" as well as a series of four smaller roofs over the front part of the building.

Ross said the number one priority is finishing the replacement of the theater's multiple roofs.

Inside the grand movie palace, the Foundation has done some major work in the past year, nothing more important than the addition of a handicap-accessible bathroom.

In years past, patrons who use wheelchairs would have to go up to the third floor in the adjacent building.

But this past year, the Foundation spent about $60,000 turning an old janitor's storage closet into an exquisite 1920s-era bathroom.

"It's absolutely gorgeous," Tyson said of the bathroom that fits needs for the disabled as well as parents with small children, since there is a baby-changing station.

Another recent project that has been substantial has been spending about $10,000 to letter and number the backs of every chair in the building to help everyone from show producers to ushers and ticket-holders.

"For the first time in over half a century, there are numbers and letters screwed onto the chairs," Tyson said. "Yes, at some point we will change the chairs and make them larger, but that is pretty far off right now. We have to take care of the roof first."

While still awaiting enough funds to completely re-do the roofs, they've been getting a number of other projects done.

One of the most visible projects that will be completed this spring is restoring the lighted wooden boxes -- called "one-sheet boxes" -- located outside in the front of the theater that hold advertisements promoting incoming shows.

A project spearheaded by downtown business owner and theater supporter Liza Caldwell, the elaborately scrolled oak cabinets have been recreated exactly to original blueprints that Edmunds and Ross found in the building.

Built by Quality Woods Inc. in Charleston, the cabinets are a far cry from the black plywood now in front.

"The casings are in, and they're beautiful. They were falling apart," Tyson said. "They're restored exactly to the period."

Behind those grand curtains on each side of the stage, another restoration project is in the works.

Keith-Albee volunteer Bob Edmunds, who helps Ross with some of the maintenance projects in the building, heads up the Huntington Theatre Organ Project Inc., which has been feverishly at work, restoring a room-sized Wurlitzer Marimba Harp.

Edmonds' separate nonprofit just bought and brought the Keith-Albee's original organ that was built in 1927 and gone from the Keith since 1957. He has been working on connecting several of the solo chamber instruments (such as tuned sleigh bells) and the Marimba to the current organ in time for the Symphony concert in April, since they are doing an organ composition.

Edmunds, who's got organ parts stashed in handful of rooms upstairs and in the Keith basement, said so far, they've raised more than $3,000 for organ restoration work. They hope to raise as much as $100,000 to fully restore the Keith organ (which is much bigger than the current organ) to it full glory and then some, as he starts swapping in better instrumentation from the original organ.

Inside a hallway of the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, Ross runs his hand over a stucco wall, where a steam leak had recently wrecked havoc but now has disappeared, thanks to a local plumbing company that patched it up perfectly.

Ross said he and Edmunds are on constant vigilance, watching out for those quiet but could be costly repairs.

"Each project that we do, we get done right, and each one we get done is a God-send," Ross said. "There's a lot of stuff nobody sees and nobody knows what's been done, but you just can't lock up a building this size that was built in 1928 and wait for the next show. There's steam leaks and water leaks at any time. We keep busy. We aren't hurting for work."

Caring for the Keith-Albee

DONATING TO THE CAUSE: To make a donation to the foundation, send checks to The Keith-Albee Foundation, in care of David Tyson, PO Box 1096, Huntington, WV 25714.

UPCOMING SHOWS: Just a few of the upcoming shows include First Stage Theatre's Rugrats: The Live Adventure in March; the Marshall Artists Series season shows: Video Games Live at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3; A Chorus Line, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24; Spring International Film Festival, March 3-9; Spring Awakening, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29; and The Color Purple, 8 p.m. Friday, April 1. Other bookings include Huntington Symphony Orchestra: "A Winter's Delight" on Saturday, Feb. 12, "Carnivale! Celebrate Life, Love, Fate!" on Saturday, March 12, and "A Springtime Serenade" on Saturday, April 23. The Appalachian Film Festival winds up its three-day fest with two days of film at the Keith on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 25-26.

ON VIDEO: Go online at www.herald-dispatch.com. Click onto local videos and Tyson on the Town to see a video starring Tyson Compton, president of the Cabell-Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau, as he explores the Keith-Albee and other downtown gems.