Ground breaks, curtain rises on next act for Weston Playhouse

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Years of planning and designing came to a close Sunday as the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company officially broke ground for its new arts center on the corner of Route 100 and the Andover Weston Road. What will not come to an end however is fund raising for the building and its programs.

Officially named The Center for the Arts at Walker Farm, the 2,700-square-foot building is designed to be a space that can be configured to accommodate a variety of uses including theatrical performances, concerts, lectures and even banquets for up to 150.

The $6.3 million building is slated to replace the Weston Rod & Gun Club as the company’s second stage and extend the season for productions from May to October.  The season currently runs June to September. It is also to become an incubator for playwrights, composers and lyricists during the winter.

“Weston is a village where dreams happen,” company board chair Anthony Wood told the crowd of about 100. “Today another dream takes root.”

Wayne Granquist, former board chair and chairman of the capital campaign for the new space, told the audience that talks with the Walker family began back in 2005 and resulted in 200 acres of pasture and farm fields being preserved through the Vermont Land Trust, with the remaining 5 acres, barn and house acquired for the new theater.

Today, the company has raised $9 million of $13.5 million needed to complete the project and operate the new facility. WPTC Managing Director Leslie Koenig said that while there is still fundraising to do, there are also grants and pledges that will come in over the next few years.

The capital campaign was launched in 2007, according to Development Director Charma Bonanno. But when the economy took a downturn in 2008, the company put the effort on hiatus, taking a “wait and see” attitude, only returning to fundraising in earnest in 2011.

“Over that time, the cost of the project rose and some improvements to the playhouse – including an orchestra pit and elevator – were added to the project,” said Bonanno. But on the heels of the upgrades came Tropical Storm Irene, which wiped out many of those.

In an interview on Tuesday, Steve Stettler, resident producing director, said, “We learned it’s far easier to bounce back from a natural disaster than a global economic downturn.” The theater company was able to replace the orchestra pit and elevator and repair other damage without dipping into capital campaign funds, thanks to “unsolicited gifts that came in at the time of the disaster, plus a small appeal to restore those.”

Today, the company has raised $9 million of $13.5 million needed to complete the project and operate the new facility. WPTC Managing Director Leslie Koenig said that while there is still fundraising to do, there are also grants and pledges that will come in over the next few years. She added that the campaign had been expanded to include repairing and sprucing up the existing house and barn. Koenig told The Telegraph that the company will use bridge funding to complete the project while the final $4.5 million is raised.

Using a “very detailed and certain list of people who are committed to us,” Stettler said, “we’re aiming at having the $4.5 million raised by the end of construction” in September 2017. When asked, he said he was unsure how much money this new facility could pour into the local economy.

Actor Christopher Lloyd, who with his brother Sam, has a long history with the playhouse, was tapped to be an honorary chair of the campaign. “This place is a miracle,” Lloyd told those gathered, noting that the new theater would “expand the miracle.”

Introduced to the crowd by Granquist as the “pied piper of theater in Weston,” Stettler said there are three pied pipers (including Producing Directors Malcolm Ewen and Tim Fort) who took over the company — which had  had only two director in its first 52 years — in 1988.

“And 28 years later, we’re not going anywhere,” Stettler told the crowd, noting that next summer would be the last season the theater would be using the Weston Rod & Gun Club building for its second stage, and assuring everyone that the playhouse would still be the prime venue in the future with “more Mamma Mias.”

Envisioning a year-round facility, Stettler said the company would extend its school program into October, when the playhouse is home to the Weston Antique and Craft shows. He added that the Young Playwrights festival and the Weston 101 programs would find homes at Walker Farm as well.

Stettler also said there are plans to offer the space for weddings and other catered events as well as concerts, film series, music series and even a farmers market. Stettler encouraged the audience to look at the animated tour of the facility on the playhouse website. “It’s everything we wanted and more,” said Stettler.

With regard to the final fundraising, Stettler said, “If you haven’t had a visit, you’ll get one. If you’ve had a visit, you’ll get another.”

With the ceremonial ground breaking done and contractors scheduled to descend upon the farm, Koenig, said the construction schedule has the building up and closed in by winter. The theater company is expecting to get the keys to its new space on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.

Francis Walker told the crowd that his parents, Kenneth and Anna Walker, and his aunt Gladys were supporters of theater in Weston even before the Congregational Church was converted into a playhouse in 1935.

Walker remembers hearing the stories of skits his family put on in the barn, which still sits on the property today. He added that his parents worked hard on their farmland and did not want to see it developed. And, he said, they were thrilled at the idea that the family home for more than 100 years would be the home to a new theater.