Bangor theater plans renovation

BANGOR – Penobscot Theatre Company has released its $350,000 renovation plan for the facade of the Main Street theater building, which includes repairing the Egyptian-inspired art deco design.

The plan is part of a $2.5 million renovation to the entire building involving modernizing stage equipment and improving access, theater officials said Friday.

The opportunity to preserve the Bangor Opera House, built in 1920, as a treasure and a landmark will not fall to the wayside, Cary Weston, Penobscot Theatre board member, said Friday.

The project is about getting the 86-year-old theater up to code and reviving the history of the downtown building.

“It is a cultural icon,” Weston said. “It is the only theater left standing in Bangor. There used to be seven.”

In order to generate the funds needed for the project, a massive fundraising effort is needed. Penobscot Theatre Company will look to area businesses and residents to help raise money for the project.

The board member pointed out that “there are cosmetic issues but also life safety issues that need to be fixed” in the historic structure.

More than 50 percent of the seats are roped off for safety reasons, and the theater is not accessible to handicapped people, he said.

“We must modernize stage equipment and greatly improve disability access to this landmark so we can meet today’s standards of accessibility, safety and security,” Steve Levy, artistic director of the Penobscot Theatre Company, said in a prepared statement.

Pieces of concrete have fallen off the existing facade and onto the marquee, and the doors to the building are not energy efficient and need to be replaced, Weston said. Due to gaps in the doors, heat pours out at night, causing a significant increase in energy costs, he said.

“The building should be an architectural marvel, not an architectural eyesore,” he added.

The makeover calls for a restoration to the original design of the opera house. As part of the complete restoration, the marquee, added in the 1960s, will be taken down.

The Penobscot Theatre Company, incorporated in 1983, acquired the opera house in 1997. It has staged more than 40 plays at the historical building. The company also puts on several student theater workshops during the summer.To kick off the fundraising for the project, the Penobscot Theatre Company will host Maine comedian Tim Sample at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. today at the opera house. Tickets are $40 each, and space is limited. As of noon Friday, 450 of 600 tickets were sold to the event.

The theater group will raise funds over the next 18 to 24 months, but with no other events currently planned, the board is relying on the community to help restore the opera house to its “well-deserved grandeur,” Levy said.

“We are at a crossroads to save history, and we must act now so that future generations don’t ask why it was torn down,” Weston said.