SEQUIM — After more than 30 months, Olympic Theatre Arts is back home.
The community troupe received a partial occupancy permit from the city of Sequim this week, said fundraising campaign manager Elaine Caldwell.
That means OTA can open “Same Time, Next Year,” the first show of the season, in its gathering room at 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Odyssey begun
OTA had to move out of its theater back in February 2007, when the city Public Works Department ruled it unsafe for public occupancy.
Demolition of the north side of the building was under way in preparation for the building of a new main stage; since the site had become a construction zone, the city barred audiences from coming to see the play being performed on the south side.
The play was “Auntie Mame,” starring Alexandria Edouart in the title role, and she and the cast, along with the set designed by Rosie von Engel, had to move to Sequim High School’s auditorium to finish their run.
Since then, OTA’s shows have gone on, performed on stages around town. Construction of the new main theater has gone on too, as has fundraising for the $1.6 million project.
Last month, Caldwell and OTA business manager Loren Johnson announced the new theater will open Feb. 5, with a production of the musical “Cabaret.”
This weekend is one more step toward that finale. “Same Time, Next Year,” a romantic comedy immortalized by the Alan Alda-Ellen Burstyn movie, will unfold in what will become OTA’s “second stage,” the gathering room.
Edouart is playing the female lead and von Engel designed the set, so “it’s come full circle,” Caldwell said.
Johnson, director of “Same Time,” was feeling both delighted and exhausted Thursday afternoon. “We had to rebuild the whole stage in here,” he said. “We’re really happy with the way the set turned out.”
The gathering room seats 106; the main theater will seat 162, and both spaces will be available for other community events once the city issues a full-occupancy permit.
This weekend, OTA is embarking on a new era, Caldwell believes.
“A great dark cloud has lifted off of us,” she said.
Through the two and a half years of rebuilding, “We just kept looking ahead.”
“Same Time Next Year” is on stage tonight through Oct. 11. For tickets or to support OTA, phone 360-683-7326 or visit http://olympic-theatre.tripod.com.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
