COMMUNITY
New theater to offer
drama, foreign films
By Don Peters
Emerald Associate Editor
The Eugene cultural scene
has a new place to view ama
teur theater productions and in
ternational films.
Willamette Street Theater.
1045 Willamette St opens its
doors to the general public Feb
22-23 with a grand opening
that will feature current exhibi
tions as well as a taste of things
to come.
The theater is a project of
Mainstage Theater Company, a
10-year-old. non-profit acting
troupe in Eugene.
"(Mainstage) needed to have
one place where plays come
out of." said Margo Schaefer,
publicist for Willamette Street
Theater. "The chances to pro
duce (amateur) plays in Eugene
is limited "
Willamette Street will he run
by Jim Roberts, executive direc
tor. and Steve Hove, general
manager, who both have long
time ties to the area. Sixteen
years ago. Hove opened Cinema
7: the first international theater
in Eugene. When that closed
two years ago. he moved to the
Mercury Theater in Spring
field.
Roberts' experience includes
directing many productions for
Mainstage.
Opening a theater "has been
a separately held dream of Rob
erts and Hove for a number of
years." Schaefer said "Hut
we've pretty much only been
working on it for the past two
years.”
The first stage was finding a
suitable building. The need for
high ceilings among other
things — eliminated many of
the buildings the group looked
at Hut when the Wilson Build
ing. former site of J. Cole's
Brew Hub. opened up. Schaefer
said the search was over.
"(Roberts and Hove) looked
at many buildings." she said.
"When this opened up. we
knew it was absolutely per
fect."
The front part of the building
is the Cabaret Gallery, which
will be used for meetings and
the like The back part, still un
der construction, will contain a
130-seat theater.
Schaefer said everything will
be in place for the Feb. 22
opening, which begins at 7
p in. A champagne or non-alco
holic bubbly toast will kick off
the celebration, followed by
live music. On Friday, the gui
tar and violin combo of Jorge
Navarro and Greg Roberts will
play, while Saturday's show
features the brass quartet "Un
stuck in Time "
On both days, after the mu
sic. Mainstage will present
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French Can-Can Cost of the
opening is $20
Careful planning lias gone
into making Willamette Street
Theater a possibility, but
Schaefer said public support is
needed to keep it alive
"This is a tenuous proposi
tion at liest." she said "We
have great managers, but we
need community support
“The theater audience in Ku
gene exists, but we need to ex
pand it," Schaefer added
"We ll provide an opportunity
for the local talent pool to per
form."
After the grand opening Wil
lumette Street will settle into a
normal routine First will lie an
international film festival, fea
turing lti works from I t differ
ent countries A sneak preview
will be held Wednesday, Feb
27 and costs $7.50 The show is
scheduled to run Feb 28
through March 28
After that. Mainstage will
present Studs TerkeFs lForking
Dates for the play have not yet
been finalized.
In addition, the theater plans
to hold a number of special
programs. One of them is "Uite
Night Live," an adult comedy
show every Friday and Satur
day at 11 pm. beginning
March 8-9 with the comedy
group "Live Matinee."
For the younger set. Willam
ette Street will hold two Satur
day performances (11 a m and
2 p.m.) of "Theater to Play
With." The first run of eight
plays goes from March 16-23
General ticket prices are $ti,
with a student discount rate of
$5 Sunday through Thursday
and $5 50 Friday-Saturday For
more information or tii kets,
call 683-4368
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Pete l.aVelle works on the Willamette Street Theater, a theater opening in Eugene that will offer
amateur theater productions and international films. When the theater opens he will Ite the folk
music concert < (mrdinator.
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