Curtain to rise on Balboa Theater construction

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA PENINSULA -- It all began at the corner of L Street and East

Balboa Boulevard, at 5:30 a.m. on a day in March 1995.

“Dayna, we have to save the [Balboa] theater,” architect Ron Baers

said to community activist Dayna Pettit.

“Ron, I don’t have time,” came her answer, but Baers didn’t let her

off the hook.

“This won’t take any time,” he told her.

Six years and $2.5 million later, sitting in the Balboa Performing

Arts Theater Foundation’s modest office Thursday, Pettit, the

organization’s president, said the countless hours she and others have

spent on the project were finally about to pay off.

On May 22, a groundbreaking ceremony will kick off about 10 months of

construction to transform the 1927 building into a performing arts center

capable of seating 350 patrons. If all goes well, the theater could open

by fall 2002.

Pettit and Michele Roberge, the foundation’s executive director, said

they’ll turn the event into the most unusual groundbreaking anyone has

ever seen.

“We’re going to have a bulldozer ballet,” Pettit said.

“It’s to give people an idea of what we’re all about,” Roberge added.

Raising money -- the foundation still needs $4 million for

construction and to secure the theater’s first-year budget -- and

building activities will keep the group busy in coming months.

But while the foundation already offers a “Reading Shakespeare”

seminar that’s held at a private home, Roberge said she hopes to put

together a sampler season of performances for the fall.

“These won’t be high-ticket, fund-raising things,” she said, adding

that there will be plenty of those as well. “We want to give people a

glimpse of what’s going to happen.”

Because Newport Beach lacks venues for the performing arts -- the

city-owned, 90-seat Newport Theater Arts Center on Cliff Drive rarely

accommodates outside groups and a proposed arts and education center on

open space behind the Central Library has faced vocal opposition from

environmentalists and residents alike -- Roberge has begun to look at

unconventional spaces to put on shows.

She’s in talks with a car dealership. The American Legion Post 291

hall and the Balboa Pavilion are also under discussion, Roberge said,

adding that she’s hoping to stage about five performances.

Recent controversy over the use of the Cliff Drive center, as well as

the arts and education center, suggest the city’s residents are no longer

satisfied with trips to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa

Mesa.

“We’ve gotten spoiled,” Roberge said. “We want to have that in our

neighborhood too. It really points at a dire need of space for the arts.”

Pettit added that the theater could also attract people living beyond

Newport Beach’s borders.

“This is not a local project,” she said. “We can really serve Orange

County.”

FYI

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