Notre Dame prepares to raise curtain on theater upgrades after delays

Notre Dame Regional High School is getting back to a previously shelved plan to upgrade its theater.

The school’s development director, Tony Buehrle, said about six years ago, the school began on a three-phase project to build a second gym, upgrade the performing-arts space and expand the main gym, adding more seating.

Between completing the first objective and starting the second, the school was told to hold off by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, he said.

It since has been given permission to restart the $3.2 million theater upgrade plan.

He said while the school also works with local banks, the loan comes from the diocese.

Students read their lines before a dress rehearsal for Notre Dame's play, "The Dining Room," on Nov. 1 at Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau. The school again is raising money for theater upgrades after the project was delayed by the diocese.Andrew J. Whitaker

“Our responsibility is to have half the money in hand and half the money pledged,” he said, “because our bank is the diocese.”

The new theater, to be named King Hall after longtime theater director Cynthia King, will feature better seating, better lighting and sound systems and a fly system to house moveable set pieces above the stage.

The finished space is planned to feature 700 retractable seats.

“We think we can transform this room, this venue,” he said. “It will be a great educational tool for us.”

The upgrades will provide the school’s students more opportunities to gain experience on the technical and performance sides of the stage, he said.

Buehrle said the new space, like the existing one, will continue to be used for assemblies, liturgy Masses and as a cafeteria during the school day.

It also will be used for extracurricular assemblies such as the annual craft show.

He said while school officials considered building a free-standing theater to house the upgrade, he said they didn’t feel it was necessary because the area already boasts several multi-thousand-seat-capacity theaters, such as those at Academic Hall at Southeast Missouri State University or Bedell Hall at the university’s River Campus.

“We feel like there are enough freestanding units,” he said. “This is an educational factor for us. ... If someone were to give us $10 million, we’d be open to that, but our desire is to utilize it with the limited income we have.”

He said fundraising is all being done with individual donations, mostly through the school’s alumni network.

“We’ll have a couple of events, but we’re not like, ‘Let’s have a dinner and raise $3,000’ kind of a thing,” Buehrle said.

The project’s timeline is contingent on fundraising, he said.

“If I don’t raise the money by spring, we’ll start in summer,” he said. “Fundraising has been ongoing. ... We are working to have alumni raise one-third and really just kicking off that part. So funding in-hand is minimal — 10 percent. But pledges are about 25 percent. ”

Even then, there will be a waiting period as the construction plans are re-evaluated and finalized and the school goes through the bidding with contractors.

“There are a lot of t’s to cross and i’s dotted,” Buehrle said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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