Neighbors Oak Park Theater Committee wants help from a bond issue

Acorn Staff Writer


Neighbors

Oak Park Theater Committee wants help from a bond issue

Last Thursday, Paul Luttrell, Chairman of the Oak Park Theater Building Committee met with Martin Klauss, assistant superintendent of business and administrative services in Oak Park Unified School District about attaining more support for the theater Oak Park wants to build. It’s proposed to cost $5.5 million.


When Oak Park High School was first designed in the late 70s, a theater was part of the original plan. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds, the theater was one of the first cuts. Since then, it’s become a great passion for many Oak Park residents; to build a state-of-the-art theater for the visual and performing arts.


"We moved into this area so that its schools could give our children the education they need to be successful as adults," said an Oak Park Theater Building Committee statement. "It isn’t complete unless it includes music and dance and theater …


"Many of us in Oak Park make our living in the arts and entertainment industries."


The theater is proposed to accommodate 400 seats and function as a mixed-use facility, used by students during the day and available to the entire community at night. Band concerts, lectures and other similar events could be presented there.


"Everyone is for the project," said Luttrell. "We just have to be on the same page at the same time."


A group of parents has banded together to find the funds to build Oak Park’s theater; $2.2 million is already available from district funds.


Luttrell explained that when the new gymnasium was being planned, part of the money that helped lift it from blueprints to reality came from the theater profits.


"To wait for an angel doesn’t make sense," Lutrell said.


He’s asked Oak Park Unified School District to endorse a bond issue, but so far, there’s been no official response.


Log onto the Website at www.oakparktheater.org for more details about the theater plans.





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