Michigan Regional Theater to Renovate Historic School Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 03/02/21

The Encore Theatre Company, a nonprofit theater group in Dexter, Mich., is raising money to renovate its new performance space—a historic school building downtown.

The theater group purchased the old school house, known as the Copeland building, from Dexter Community Schools last year for a price of $1 million. Now, it is seeking to fundraise about that same amount to convert the space into a modern performance venue.

“Our new building is evolving into a state-of-the-art theater center, where the finest talent of southeast Michigan, Broadway, and other top industry professionals will come together to produce and develop extraordinary shows,” said Daniel Cooney, the group’s co-founder and artistic director. “This is also an opportunity to breathe new life into a historic building, and to provide musical theater training to the next generation of artists in our region.”

The Copeland building was built in 1857 as the Dexter Union Schoolhouse. It was rebuilt in 1887 and saw major renovations in 1936. Already featuring a rather sizable auditorium, the final renovations will convert the 20,000-square-foot building to include public meeting spaces, classrooms for arts education programs, a lobby, a café, and a bar.

Encore has already received $500,000 from the Bernard L. Maas Foundation, as well as significant contributions from its patrons. It’s currently in the process of raising an additional $1.3 million, which it hopes to have by the end of 2021, in a capital campaign called “OUR NEXT STAGE.” It’s soliciting from local individuals, organizations, and businesses for tax-deductible donations. The group also notes that “naming rights for the building, lobby, entrance, café and bar, as well as other areas within the facility” are still up for grabs.

“This renovation will create an expanded, public arts destination in downtown Dexter, attracting tens of thousands to local businesses and the surrounding community annually through professional musical theater productions and an active arts education program for youth of all ages,” said the Encore Theatre Company in a statement.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Debuts New Chemistry Building

    The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wis., recently celebrated the grand opening of a new Chemistry Building, according to a news release. The facility measures in at 163,400 square feet, stands four stories, and has the capacity for about 5,000 chemistry and biochemistry students.

  • American University Launches Sustainability Research Project

    American University in Washington, D.C., recently began a research project exploring the relationship between purchase decisions for university campuses and sustainability, according to a news release. The study seeks to explore how “greening” the purchases involved in student housing renovations, breaking ground on new facilities, buying new equipment and supplies, and more, can foster larger sustainability goals.

  • PBK Names New Managing Principal for Dallas Office

    Architectural planning and design firm PBK recently named Danny Berger as the new Managing Principal for its Dallas office, according to a news release. He’ll fill the role following the retirement of Rick Blan on Oct. 31 after almost 30 years with the firm.

  • How Data Increases Community Confidence in School Facilities

    In school districts across America, the start of a new school year is met with optimism and new beginnings. But as the back-to-school excitement wears off, it recedes to the reality that many school facilities are in the same state of infrastructural decline that they’ve faced for years, if not decades, as these facilities deteriorate.

Digital Edition