It has been decades since the Newtown High School auditorium has been updated or renovated and now it is finally time for an upgrade. In Spring 2016, a one year process of renovating the auditorium will take place, creating a state of the art performance space that will greatly benefit the students and community in Newtown.
The dated auditorium has slowly been deteriorating throughout the years, and the visual damage is showing through, with seats that are old and falling apart, and lighting and sound systems that constantly go out and cause technical difficulties before and during performances.
“The current auditorium is very old and it has suffered as a result. There’s old, cracked and dated equipment,” NHS junior Jaden Albrecht said.
But another problem is that the safety aspects of the theater are suffering as well. The backstage areas of NHS’s auditorium are currently not up to code, as indicated by Michelle Hiscavich, the district’s Director of Music and Fine Arts Chair. Numerous issues were discovered when an official theater inspection company came to survey the space. After examining the area, which included checking out the catwalk, sound system, and lighting system, the area was declared unsafe to use.
Since the time when this discovery was made, renovating the auditorium became more of a priority. But this was the first time the effort was taken all across the board to get plans and approval so that the renovation could actually become a reality.
“This has been something that has been ongoing for years. I can go back in my notes to 1995, when they did the first addition on this high school, asking ‘what are we going to do for the auditorium’. And at that point, there was nothing in the plans,” Hiscavich said.
Even when a second addition to the high school was made in 2012, the requested renovation still was not put into action, but the sound system was replaced and the acoustic panels were put in. These were all small steps until the actual renovation could take place.
Now that the renovation process has begun, one of the most recent steps taken in this process was choosing a design firm to create the outline for the new auditorium.
Newtown’s Public Building and Site Commissioners chose Smith Edwards McCoy Architects to design the auditorium in a unanimous decision. The firm was picked not only for their good reputation, the new Handel Center at the Hartt School serving as an adequate example, but also for their outlook on this project.
This firm in particular has the mindset to create a space that is not treated as just any other high school auditorium. Their goal is to create a college-level, high-tech performance space that will benefit the entire Newtown community.
“It’s really a community auditorium more than a high school auditorium, and I think that’s the reason why there was some excitement around ‘let’s take a look at what we have, let’s make it better,’” Superintendent of Newtown Public School District Dr. Joseph Erardi said.
The aesthetically pleasing outline for the new space has recently been revealed to the public and many of the new features have excited the NHS students, especially those who are looking forward to performing on the new stage.
“It’s going to be great! I’ve heard that we’ve had this auditorium forever and it’s time for a new one,” NHS sophomore Brooks Petershack said.
But what do the students here at NHS have to look forward to with this new renovation?
With the new design, the whole auditorium is supposed to have an entirely different look and new feeling to it, including much better seats, with box seats as well, new lights, new sound system, an orchestra pit, and even handicapped compatibility.
Since Unified Theater is now an elective at NHS, offering students of all disabilities to come together and create shows to put on, Ms. Gabriel has to find a way to get everyone up onto the stage even if they are handicapped. This has been an ongoing challenge and struggle with only stairs leading up to the stage, but it will soon be resolved with the new space.
Although a great deal of the community’s assemblies, meetings, events, concerts, and drama productions take place in the high school auditorium, nothing will be cancelled during the renovation.
Ms. Hiscavich is planning out alternative spaces to hold these events, such as Reed Intermediate School, Newtown Middle School, and even the new performance space at Western Connecticut State University for the spring concerts.
For students and teachers at NHS, this renovation is a very exciting new upgrade for the school and will not only benefit those who teach or learn there, but will also bring the community closer to the high school as a whole.