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 * MJNDCRIANP + ORE *> EOR PARTIES ANO BIRTMOAXS 5 A* If men *U GAMES WORK £VIUClf WITH NICKELS GAMES admission m so STM STRUT rvauc HARM T EUCtU .MJ S444 THE ULTIMATE INDOOR TANNING MACHINE We've got your tan when you want it! SunSbower on campus ■ im-wt WWtiUki s< ciu's from its production of .Sweeney Todd, follmvt'd in I(*«in In Renoir's film 77ie 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 $5 50 Friday-Saturday For more information or tii kets, call 683-4368 ROSES s14.99»a„, Ubo milabir in vut w*h im k bjbtt* bfwlh C2.W while mpplin Ust) Carnations _$ia^_ FLOWERS AND GIFTS U of O location 607 E. 13th 483-1992 West Eugene 1710 Chamber* 483-1261 FOR INVITATIONS BROCHURES FLYERS r O $ T E R s AND MORE LETTtR P £ R f £ C T Graphics 300CMU • .546 4381 Hwto f»> \iulr* M