Several months ago, when plans for a new Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City were taking shape, the various possibilities for renaming the theater were being discussed. An actress in one of the productions suggested "Taj Mahale" - a play on words combining India's famous Taj Mahal and the Hale name.
That could be overstating it a bit, but the new theater, for which ground is expected to be broken in mid-July, will be seven to eight times larger than HCT current theater in South Salt Lake.
The "larger" doesn't mean there'll be that many more seats, however. (That would amount to something like 2,500 - far too many for the intimate ambience HCT audiences enjoy.)
According to Sally Dietlein, one of HCT's co-owners and publicist for the theater, here are some of the highlights of the new $7.2 million facility:
- It will seat from 520 to 570 (50 auxiliary seats could be added when needed).
- It's been designed with patron comfort in mind: Plenty of leg room, cup-holders on each of the spacious new, contoured seats, and the furthest seat will be only eight rows back.
- Technically, the theater will be state-of-the-art, including a circular stage capable of rotating in two directions at the same time (think of it as being shaped like a giant doughnut - the "hole" could rotate in one direction and the outside ring could move the opposite way). Plus the stage will be divided into sections - any one of which could be raised or lowered . . . also at the same time.
- Space beneath the stage is designed so that props (or people) can be brought up to stage level via hyrdaulic lifts.
- Even more unusual for a theater-in-the-round, there will be "fly space" above the stage, allowing props and scenery to be lowered from above. (Proscenium theaters, such as Pioneer Memorial, Kingsbury Hall and the Capitol, have extensive fly systems for rapid changing of backdrops - but arena style theaters rarely have this capability.) - The walls behind the top row will form a cyclorama completely surrounding the theater, linked to a projection system for displaying either images or changing colors to fit different moods.
- The auditorium will be cocooned by firewalls and hallways to eliminate any outside noise.
- The lobby will include a spacious overflow area with a fireplace, plus expanded concessions (upstairs and down) and box office. The building will be handicapped accessible.
- Adjacent to the lobby area will be HCT's greatly expanded costume shop, designed not only for costume construction, but for storage of up to three tiers of costumes on automated retrieval racks.
- The facility will include an in-house scenery construction shop, rehearsal rooms and recording studios.
- A large, gated parking lot will surround the theater (with curtain times kept at HCT's traditional 8 p.m. - half an hour later than West Valley City's huge new events center/arena across the street). Some patrons have expressed a desire for earlier starting times on weeknights, but Dietlein said the theater will stay with 8 p.m. in order to avoid a traffic crunch during Grizzly games and other major E-Center events.
- For the performers, there will be six large dressing rooms, all with restroom facilities.
Groundbreaking is tentatively set for July 16, and it's anticipated that the grand opening will coincide with founder Ruth Hale's 90th birthday on Oct. 14, 1998.
"This would bring Grandma Hale full circle," Dietlein noted. "Ruth was born and reared in West Valley City."
Nearly 60 years ago Ruth and Nathan, her late husband, were asked by the bishop of their LDS Church ward to produce a play. The one they found required a $25 royalty - a hefty sum in 1937. The bishop gasped and explained that was more than the ward had in its entertainment budget for the entire year - so Ruth and Nathan wrote their own original play, called "Handcart Trails."
Since then Ruth Hale has written more than 80 original scripts, including many produced at the family's theaters - the Glendale Centre Theatre near Los Angeles, HCT in South Salt Lake, Hale Center Theatre in Orem and the rustic Hale Summer Playhouse on the family's ranch in Grover, near Capitol Reef National Park.
Starting in the mid-1980s with 220 seats, the soon-to-be-replaced Hale theater was expanded within two years to 350 seats by knocking out the south wall, and a few more seats were added by constructing a balcony along the west side.
But, after 12 years, the South Salt Lake site has no more room for expansion. New shows are rehearsed in a vacant schoolhouse several blocks away and the costume shop has long outgrown its tiny home.
"We've had to use four mobile units for the costumes. We've nicknamed them Eenie, Meenie, Miney and Moe," said Dietlein.
HCT patrons have been feeling the crunch, too, with most productions being 90 percent sold out.
The exterior of the new building will be stone and brick. There's a hint of the old Saltair pavilion in the structure's circular wings and rooflines.
Dietlein explained that West Valley City is constructing the building and Hale Centre Theatre will lease it.
"In their 50 years of operating theaters, Ruth and Nathan never asked for one dime from the community," Dietlein noted, "but with the high building costs, there's no way we could possibly have built this without the wonderful help of West Valley City behind us."
In addition to some fund-raising, with all donations earmarked for the theater itself, the county "is pitching in big-time from the restaurant tax and Pete Harmon has donated $300,000."
The area around West Valley City's new arena and the site for the Hale Centre Theatre is bustling with construction activity. A new Cracker Barrel Restaurant has just opened and there are plans for several restaurants and motels plus a multiscreen movie theater.
"I have never worked with a more progressive group of people," Dietlein said, commenting on the cooperation HCT has had with West Valley City over the past several months.