Sunday 10th December 2006 - North Olympic Peninsula, Washington


(Photo by Tom Thompson/Peninsula Daily News)

Bob Lumens, president of the Port Angeles Light Opera Association, pokes his fingers through holes in the curtain of the Port Angeles High School Auditorium and Performing Arts Center.
Other holes have been patched with cloth from his jeans.

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Auditorium to get needed fix-up with a distinct Irish flair by BRIAN GAWLEY

The Port Angeles High School Auditorium and Performing Arts Center that turns 50 years old this year is getting some sorely needed upgrades.

The curtains are falling apart and so is their support -- they're dragging on the stage.

When a heat wave hit the North Olympic Peninsula last summer, the temperature inside the auditorium baked the audience at more than 100 degrees.

Although the auditorium is on the high school campus at 304 E. Park Ave., it's also the focal point for community events -- such as Port Angeles Light Opera Association productions, Port Angeles Symphony concerts and Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts concerts.

So a community fundraising effort has begun to spruce up the auditorium, with a wisp of the luck o' the Irish thrown in.

Performances next weekend by the Irish Tenors, a trio of world-renowned voices, will start a three-part ``Shamrock Series'' aimed at raising funds to refurbish the performance hall.

The other two parts of the Shamrock are a visit by the Irish Rovers -- who had a top 40 radio hit with ``The Unicorn'' in the 1960s -- in March, followed by a return visit by Anthony Kearns, one of the three Irish Tenors, in October.

The Irish Tenors' performances scheduled this coming Saturday and Sunday had sold $1,500 in tickets by noon Friday.

``It's an incredible building with incredible acoustics. It's amazing that it has lasted this long, but it needs help,'' said Bob Lumens, president of the Port Angeles Light Opera Association.

``A long list'' of items need to be replaced, he said, and some are already bought.

Due to arrive this week in time for Kearns and the other two tenors will be 11 black curtains, 27 lights and a communications system for the cast and crew, Lumens said.

If part of one of the auditorium's 30-year-old black stage curtains looks familiar, Lumens said, it's because he had to sew part of his black jeans onto it to patch a tear.

The group also plans to replace the metal poles that hold the curtains so they don't drag on the stage, he said.

``We'll have spent $13,000 on these three items. There's a long list, and I hope this is the beginning,'' Lumens said.

The building, which is owned by the school district, needs numerous other upgrades as well, he said.

For example, on opening night of ``Paint Your Wagon'' last summer, the temperature in the auditorium reached 105 degrees by 7 p.m. because there's no ventilation in the roof, Lumens said.

`Perfect venue' The spacious Port Angeles High School Auditorium at 304 E. Park Ave. was designed by Tacoma architect Charles Rueger, said Lynnette Crouse, Shamrock Series promoter.

Rueger's company used its own money to hire the consultant who designed the acoustics for the United Nations and Metropolitan Opera Company buildings in New York, Crouse said. ``It's really quite a perfect venue,'' she said.

Next weekend's shows -- Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. -- already are 85 percent sold, she said.