In what was supposed to be a year of celebrating 100 years of the Palace Theatre, mother nature had a different plan. The winter storm and low temperatures on January 24-26 damaged The Palace Theatre on the Square, putting a damper on plans and closing the theatre for several months.
Extensive water damage impacted up to the third row of seats, the sound system, floor and carpet, hearing loop, curtains, parts of the stage and paint. All needs to be fixed.
Repairs this extensive come with a hefty price tag and the Palace’s insurance is covering less than 10 percent of the damages. The rest of the funds, about $500,000, will have to come from fundraising. So far, about $170,000 has been raised.
“We’re well short of that [$500,000], but we’ve made good progress,” Executive Artistic Director Ron Watson said.
Although construction wasn’t in the plans, the Palace staff hope to use the opportunity to remake the Palace “like you’ve never seen,” Development Director Debra Heater said. The goal is to have the majority of repairs done by late April, and the reopened Palace will see a refresh on decor, new seating, new carpet, a new sound system and more.
“Our marketing director, she told us what we were going to repaint anyway, we had that on the schedule to do, like a capital project,” Ms. Heater said.
The theatre’s age and historic elements pose a unique challenge, however, so the Palace selected 1836 Legacy Construction as contractor. Company president Joshua Anderson said he’s always loved theatre. When the opportunity came up to repair the Palace, he put his best foot forward.
“I let them know that I have some experience working with historical buildings,” he said. “We don’t have really strict historic guidelines on the inside, but we’re still trying to maintain that feel of a historic theatre. It’s definitely an honor to have been selected for the role.”
Work involves retouching wall trim and restoring historic paneling that was deteriorating in some areas, he said.
“Now those damaged areas are restored and no one will be the wiser,” Mr. Anderson said.
A nightmare realized
The Palace building sits atop a natural spring. Because the theater’s seating area dips below street level, sump pumps are used to keep water out. During the winter storm this year, those sump pumps failed, resulting in water damage.
“If you’re going to be a live theatre, you want your audience closer to the stage,” Mr. Watson said, discussing the theatre’s design. “In a movie theater, you don’t care what the height is, because you’re just looking up at the big screen.”
The Palace flooding has been his “nightmare” for 30 years, Mr. Watson said. He has worried about the theatre flooding since the first time Singing in the Rain was performed.
“We were always afraid of it, but there’s nothing you could do,” he said. “Those sump pumps are not supposed to fail.”
It was “very painful” to get the letter from the insurance company that they would be covering less than 10 percent of damages, Ms. Heater said. However, the low coverage amount is the result of a clause in the nonprofit’s insurance policy. Without it, the Palace’s premium would have been a lot higher.
“We were going to pay one way or the other on the front end or the back end,” Ms. Heater said. “In the long run, paying a lower premium and now having to deal with this — while it’s not great, it’s probably better, because now we’re not paying $120,000 on a premium every year, we’re paying $40,000.”
To prevent another incident like the one in January, both sump pumps have been replaced and there are more warning systems for if one or both pumps fail.
“We’re going to install moisture detectors that will actually give us alerts on phones and over email. We’re [also] going to get a sump pump alarm,” Mr. Watson said.
Preparing for the future
With tight deadlines for the Palace’s reopening, Mr. Anderson said keeping the project on schedule is a matter of team alignment and communication.
“It’s important to set good expectations from the beginning with your team, getting everybody aligned,” he said. “I’ve had a conversation with each individual trade and almost on the daily for some of those trades.”
The Palace has held several fundraisers, including Tenors UnLimited from England, Amplify Wilco, the Save a Seat Save the Palace campaign and a future fundraiser called Encore for the Palace.
Staff have also applied for grants, Mr. Watson said, and the community support they’ve received has been huge.
“This community is not going to let the Palace fail, and we’re not either,” he said. “We’re going to be okay. In fact, we’re going to be more than okay. We’re going to be better.”
The first show back in the Palace will be Jesus Christ Superstar, which will open on May 29 if everything comes together. Between the time the Palace reopens in late April and Jesus Christ Superstar starts, Mr. Watson said some dance companies have rented out the space for performances.
“I’m looking at these rentals as kind of a soft launch,” Mr. Watson said. “We’re not going to have our new curtains yet, so we have to put our old curtains back up.”
For those looking to support the Palace and enjoy some show tunes, Palace actors will be holding two benefit concerts – called Encore at the Palace – on April 17 and 18 to raise funds for repairs. The show on April 18 is “pay-what-you-can.” There will be a medley of show tunes from recent Palace shows at the Doug Smith Performance Center. Tickets for the event and other Palace fundraisers can be found on the Palace’s website at www.georgetownpalace.org.
Until then, Ms. Heater said the renovations for the Palace are cozy, modern and “feels like us.”
“It feels more like you have a sense of occasion when you come here, rather than, ‘oh, I'm going into an old movie house,’ ” she said. “That's really what the feel was before, I think, which, that’s what we were, but now I think there will be a sense of occasion. You’re coming to the theatre.”