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State Street Theater Co. pushes for renovations, restorations to historic theater

NEW ULM – With its future up in the air, the State Street Theater is looking for a thorough re-gutting.

Originally built in 1939, the theater was erected as an extension to the then-public high school that has since withstood the test of time. Today, the State Street Theater Co. – headed by President Reed Glawe – is laying out and proposing a three-phase plan that would give the theater new life as a community bastion for the performing arts.

“At the time it was built, it was a very unique facility,” Glawe said. “At the time, I don’t think there were any theaters that had a gymnasium for the stage and that is one of the qualities of this facility.

“But there wasn’t anything like it in this part of the state. Mankato, southwestern Minnesota, south-central Minnesota – there wasn’t anything like it.”

The State Street Theater is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in New Ulm’s history. With that, the SSTC wants to take the next step in promoting and investing in the performing arts in the area by securing a future for the theater.

Last month, the SSTC formally submitted an application for funding from the Reinvest New Ulm Committee (RENU) for the three-phase plan. If approved, Phase 1 of the renovations would be implemented within the first year that the RENU funding becomes available with Phases 2 and 3 taking place up to 10 years down the road. According to the plan submitted to the committee, funding for Phases 2 and 3 would come from other means.

Some of the marquee restorations and additions in Phase 1 include an elevator, loading dock, orchestra pit, handicap accessibility upgrades and new restrooms as well as the removal of the old seating for newer, more comfortable seats.

“The goal is to make it so user-friendly that the community wants to come and have events here,” Chair of the SSTC Board Judy Sellner said. “In order to make it user-friendly, we have to start with Phase 1.”

The total restoration and renovation for the State Street Theater is slated to come in just shy of $4 million with $2 million coming from Phase 3 alone. Glawe said Phase 3 is where the big-ticket items come into play, including a fly gallery, curtains, a glass atrium and parking solutions as well as outfitting the little gym into a black-box venue.

According to the report, the SSTC estimates that upkeep of the theater is just shy of $40,000 annually, which is significantly less than the $125,000 the city uses for the Community Center and the $145,000 that Brown County uses for the museum.

One key comparison the report draws is that of the city of Worthington, Minnesota, which has a similar relationship with its theater proposed in SSTC’s plan. Worthington maintained its theater in its old high school that now hosts area productions, traveling shows and other events that bring people to town.

Another key component of Phase 1 is the restoration of the three murals that adorn the theater. The three murals were commissioned as part of the Works Progress Administration – later known as the Work Projects Administration – in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the WPA in an effort to put millions of victims of the Great Depression to work in order to bolster the economy at the time.

The murals are one of the big historical assets of the theater, and their restoration is key in the grand scheme of things.

But one of the main questions many may have remains: Why are the performing arts important?

“Human beings, since the dawn of time, have wanted to tell stories and have other people listen to the stories,” Executive and Artistic Director Paul Warshauer said. “We know this from the Lascaux Caves where we see paintings of people dressed in skins and acting out the hunt in front of an audience. We know that they’ve done theater going back to the beginning of time.

“The Germans who settled here were big fans of music and performing arts. We know they did it at Turner Hall before the city was founded. So theater, to me, has always been an important art form and it’s one that I’ve dedicated my life to doing.”

On the creative side of things, Warshauer hopes for the State Street Theater to serve not only as a community resource for entertainment, but also as a tool for young people to grow through performing arts.

“The theater educates, informs and entertains,” Warshauer said. “That’s what we try to do.”

One of the big points of opposition to the restoration of the State Street Theater is the fact that the new New Ulm High School being built on the edge of town is going to have a theater of its own. However, there is one giant setback to that.

“Use and availability of that is going to be prioritized,” Glawe said. “First, it’s going to be used for the high school for their productions, for their events that they need to have an auditorium for. As we understand it, the second priority is going to be for other educational purposes.

“So we’re going to be two or three levels below that when it comes to community performing arts events. Those are going to be lower on the priority list.”

The prioritized usage, Glawe said, is understandable considering that the original theater was under the high school’s ownership for the longest time. But with that, the State Street Theater serves as an alternative for performing arts open to all ages, not just high school events.

“It was tough getting time in here for groups like ours and the other groups to be able to use the auditorium,” Glawe said. “There is a need from a community events-standpoint. The idea of this is that the priority is now performing arts performances, public events, things like that.”

Warshauer said that the best-case scenario for the theater – along with all the planned restorations and maintenance – is for there to be three fully operational venues in the complex. Along with the 690-seat auditorium, Warshauer said the other two were a 90-seat studio theater and a 250-seat black-box theater in the backstage area of the main auditorium.

What has to happen for this to work, Warshauer said, is for the city to take title of the theater and for the SSTC to operate it and for Park & Recreation to manage it.

“The system would look very much like CASTLE over there at the Community Center,” Warshauer said.

With taking title, the city would take care of the long-term maintenance. However, the SSTC would raise additional money to finish refurbishing the theater.

The economic impact is another big plus with the potential for out-of-towners to come to New Ulm and stay overnight, eat at the restaurants and support the local businesses along with catching shows at the State Street Theater.

When it all comes down to it, the SSTC is working hard for the theater’s upkeep and renovation because of its historical significance to the people of New Ulm – past and present.

“I think it needs to be saved for all of those students who went to school in this building and participated in theater on this stage,” Sellner said. “All those handmarks that are on the walls, all those students, this was their school. It was so much a part of New Ulm.”

However, Glawe said, the building can’t sit there the way it is.

On April 26, the SSTC will make a formal presentation to the RENU committee in hopes of making sure its future is secured.

“We’ve saved it, in a way, and we’re still working on saving it,” Glawe said. “But there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to preserve it and protect it for generations to come.

“That’s what I think of it in terms of, what is this going to be in 50 years? How do we ensure that future generations and people from surrounding communities have this available to them 50 years, 75 years from now?”

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