Fundraising problems halt OPHS theater plan

It appears an activity center will be built at Oak Park High School instead of a performing arts theater, but the The Oak Park Theater Building Committee still wants to find out what the residents think.

The committee hasn’t been successful in coming up with $5 million needed to build a 400-seat theater with stadium seating. School officials decided a smaller activity center is more viable.

At a school board meeting a couple months ago, building committee chairman Paul Luttrell explained that there wasn’t an "angel" coming down to donate money for the theater. Most investors, he said, felt Oak Park wasn’t a community in need of money.

The move toward an Activity Center (a building that will house theater classrooms and productions) apparently has derailed investor interest in the theater.

Still, committee members feel that a theater similar to those at Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks high schools is necessary.

Luttrell wants to see how residents feel by issuing an Oak Park community survey, but School Board Member Jan Iceland asked the committee not to proceed. She feared that it would appear the board wasn’t cooperating with the committee. Boardmembers liked the idea, but couldn’t afford the $5 million price tag. Luttrell said he wants to hear public opinion.

The theater committee soon plans to approach soon a professional survey company. A poll will ask residents if they want a theater and if they’re interested in funding it.

If the response is positive, Luttrell believes there’s still enough room on the high school campus. He’d like to see it adjacent the Activity Center, as an arts plaza, although placement would ultimately be decided by the board of education, Luttrell said.

If the community doesn’t respond favorably to the survey, Luttrell predicted the committee would stay afloat. Someday people will realize the theater is a necessity, Luttrell said. He sees the committee coming back in another couple of years if such is the case. OPHS Principal Cliff Moore wants a theater, according to Luttrell,s and fully supports the committee.

An Activity Center doesn’t take the place of a theater, Luttrell said.

The theater committee has already influenced the design and placement of the Activity Center, Luttrell said. "We’re ultimately glad that it’s being built," he said.