The Memorial Opera House reopens Friday, following a four-month, $5 million renovation. Marketing Coordinator Zachary Mullins says it's the first major renovation of the 1893 building since the 1990s.
"It was aging," Mullins explained. "There was paint chipping. Patrons were complaining about springs sticking out of the seats. In between shows, during intermission, we'd have a huge, bunched up line at our front bar."
Visitors will notice major updates to the interior. Mullins noted that some walls were removed near the entrance. "Now, when you walk in, it's going to be just one, big opening space," Mullins said. "We're going to have a mobile box office. We're going to have our bar right there. That should help us not only minimize the line we would sometimes experience during shows, but it also just makes everything feel more cohesive and open."
The theater itself features brand new seats with more legroom, new paint, an improved stage and a larger tech area. Still, Mullins assures visitors that the Opera House's historical value will remain intact.
"Memorial Opera House is registered as a historical landmark, and so actually, the facade on the outside cannot be touched by us, legally," Mullins added. "So we are keeping that completely the same. We wouldn't want to touch it, anyways. We think it's beautiful. We think the historical significance is amazing."
The project wasn't without challenges.
The Porter County Council and Commissioners went back and forth with each other for months over the scope of the work. The initial proposal would have expanded the Opera House to connect it with the former sheriff's residence. At one point, the county council added funding for the project back into the county's spending plan for American Rescue Plan money, only to pull the funding, when the commissioners scaled the project back. They eventually reached a compromise without the connecting structure.
Additionally, the Opera House ended up canceling a summer production of "Guys and Dolls," resulting in a loss of revenue.
Still, Mullins says construction itself has gone smoothly.
The Memorial Opera House officially reopens Friday with a rededication ceremony. "It's rededicating the Memorial Opera House as a memorial for all veterans because that's what we started as in 1893, and since we closed for a long time, we felt that it would just be important and worthwhile to reaffirm to our community that a memorial is what we are," Mullins said.
Friday's rededication is set to include remarks from Judge Michael Fish, the Porter County Commissioners and the Memorial Opera House Foundation Board.
