Artists, others asking South to build theater

South officials, however, said the addition was meant to be just an auditorium to support the school curriculum.

By: Linda Seida
   WEST AMWELL — Convincing taxpayers to spend $4.6 million for a new auditorium at South Hunterdon Regional High School was a tall order two years ago when the district also needed another $16.2 million for renovations and new construction for the Eisenhower-era building.
   "I knew that was going to be a hard sell," said Peter Romeo of Lambertville, a member of an ad hoc committee that helped win community support for the entire $20.8 million project that required voter approval. "So we sold it as a theater."
   A former president of the Board of Education remembers it the same way.
   "This was always intended to be a theater," said David Moraski, who resigned from the board in 2004. "That’s what was always talked about."
   Not so, say school officials.
   Now the difference of opinion is dividing the community.
   The space always was intended primarily as an auditorium to support the school’s curriculum and instruction, according to Board of Education President Douglas Coleman and former Superintendent Lisa Brady, who was the head administrator when the referendum was put to voters.
   "From the start, this was always designed to be an auditorium," Mr. Coleman said.
   "It was never a theater," said Ms. Brady, who left the district last month. "The voters approved an auditorium. This idea that it has now become a theater, I don’t know where it’s coming from."
   The two-part referendum itself was vague. The second part, dealing with the auditorium, asked voters only to authorize "the construction of an auditorium addition at the high school."
   During the design process, a group of theater professionals and performing arts groups gave their input on the types of features the design should incorporate. They included Lambertville husband-and-wife Richard Warwinsky and Audrey Frankowski. Mr. Warwinsky has been the stage director for several South Hunterdon performances. Ms. Frankowski has directed the school’s musicals.
   "The problem is that they did not listen in the beginning," Ms. Frankowski said, "We told them what was needed, and they just went along with whatever the architect said. The architect never really tried to incorporate the things that we needed."
   The architect is no longer with the firm hired by South Hunterdon.
   The group learned in April that, among other problems, the design includes no orchestra pit, and the stage is only 30 inches high.
   An average stage height is between 44 and 60 inches, according to Ms. Frankowski.
   "The minute it opens, there will be regrets," she said.
   At one point, Ms. Frankowski said, "We told them it could be done in stages." She described the architect as "unresponsive."
   "Certainly, they were listened to," Ms. Brady said. "It wasn’t that no one was listening to them. But when the rubber hit the road, the dollars just were not there for the things they wanted. I don’t know where they want the district to come up with this kind of money."
   The issue is "black and white," she said. "You have this much money, and this is what it buys."
   Mr. Coleman said. "I’ll grant you, it’s not what they truly want."
   But, he added, the current design will "give a better performance arts setup than we currently have. In that regard, I believe we succeeded."
   A primary factor driving what the space will actually become is money.
   "We can’t build a theater for the amount of money that the voters approved," Mr. Coleman said. "We don’t have a choice. I don’t think voters would like us to come back again."
   Ms. Frankowski and others say the plans for the auditorium should be redesigned to incorporate necessary features, even if it has to be done in stages as additional funding becomes available.
   "If you’re going to spend that kind of money, it should be multipurpose," Mr. Romeo said. "With all that money invested, this is the time to make the changes. If it gets delayed, if there are changes, that’s good. To me, it can be delayed because it’s not going to hold up the curriculum next year."
   All the referendum-approved money is earmarked and spent, and the district is at budget on the auditorium, according to Mr. Coleman, although there is a contingency fund in case problems crop up.
   At the auditorium’s site, the topsoil has been stripped, and workers are preparing to excavate the foundation.
   "At this stage, we can’t stop and redesign things," Mr. Coleman said. "Time is money."
   A delay and a redesign of the plans would add an unknown amount to the final cost.
   "How much more? Who knows," Mr. Coleman said.
   Estimates to add just an orchestra pit run between $100,000 and $200,000, he said.
   Perhaps not building a performing arts-friendly space could cost the district more in the long run in other terms.
   "The board’s credibility is at stake here," Mr. Moraski said. "When you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, it makes it very difficult to pass budgets in the future."
   Mr. Moraski also served 18 years on the Lambertville Public School board with at least 10 of them as president. He knows speaking out in opposition to his former colleagues on the South Hunterdon board is not the popular thing to do, but he is adamant in his recollection a theater is what was sold to voters, not simply an auditorium.
   "I’m sure I won’t make many friends on the board, but that is my recollection, and that is my feeling about it," Mr. Moraski said.
   Public discussions at the time pointed out income could be generated for the school by renting out the space to a handful of local performing arts groups.
   Mr. Moraski said a crucial part of winning voter support for the project required officials to "listen to the community," which he said included groups who were looking for venues where they could perform.
   A theater was a "way to bring in other community members besides parents, making it useful to the community," he said. "That’s the way it was sold for the referendum."
   Mr. Coleman said he thinks performance arts groups could still use the space.
   "If you build it, they’ll come," he said.
   But some people are dismayed because the theater they thought they were getting is not what will be built.
   Mr. Warwinsky and Ms. Frankowski sent a letter to the board in June objecting to the construction of a space they say is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of the students as well as of the community. The letter was supported by at least 30 other parents and residents.
   It said, in part, "We knew, and accepted, that our entire ‘wish list’ could not be fulfilled upon completion of construction since the funds available would only go so far. But we hoped that the basics would be covered and the door left open for growth and enhancements that could be added in the future as budget and time allow."
   "A mistake has been made," Mr. Moraski said. "I don’t know who made it. But now’s the time to fix it."