Last updated August 28, 2010   

Albany Civic Theater

Support ACT

We're renovating! (Photo by Oscar B. Hult)

Pardon our dust!

Thanks to a generous (and anonymous) donor, our auditorium is getting a major facelift for the first time since 1973!

The project, now underway, includes:

• Refurbishing our theater seats with new upholstery, powder-coating and refinished arms
• Removal of the suspended ceiling and overhead catwalk
• Replacement of our ancient chandelier lighting with a modern auditorium lighting system, including floor-level lighting along both aisles
• New paint and fabric treatments on the walls
• Acoustic improvements
• Extending our fire safety sprinkler system to cover the auditorium
  Replacement of the grand curtain and valance

See more photos of the work-in-progress in our Flickr group!

August update: The work is proceeding on schedule. The ceiling is now drywalled. Acoustic ceiling material goes up this month. Our permanent theatrical seating will be restored once the ceiling work is completed, and we're aiming to have that done in time for the first show of our 2010-2011 season, Alice In Wonderland. In October, we'll polish off the project with a new grand curtain track and valance.

Meanwhile, we hope audiences for our final production of this season (To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday) will bear with us if things are a little different. We're bringing in rented seating for those two productions, and volunteer crews will be needed to set them up and take them down around each performance weekend.

We welcome further donations toward this and other theater improvements.

We offer several ways to donate:

• Donate on line!
  ACT has joined the Network For Good, a national philanthropic Web site which provides a secure means of making on-line donations . Simply follow this link for information, or click:

(If you use your credit or debit card, the Network for Good will take 3 percent off the top for administrative and handilng costs - but if you donate via electropnic funds transfer from your bank, we receive your entire donation without a handling fee!)

• Mail a check directly to the theater:

  Donations
  Albany Civic Theater
  PO Box 82
  Albany OR 97321

• Is your employer a matching donor? Many mid-valley companies, including Hewlett-Packard Co., will match their employees' contributions to charitable causes. Check with your payroll department to see if yours is one of them!
• Include an extra donation when you purchase your season tickets.

We also encourage you to help us save printing and postage costs by subscribing to the e-mail version of our newsletter. And we hope we can count on your continued support, both to build a rainy-day fund against future unexpected expenses, and to help with the never-ending costs of putting on top-quality productions.

And don't forget: One of the most valuable things you can donate is your time.

ACT is a 501(c)(3) corporation, and your donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. We are also an Oregon Cultural Trust supported program.

Remodeling coordinator Oscar Hult paints trim
outside the new front door.

Recent projects:

We've replaced the marquee sign and and lighting to complete our two-year facade remodeling effort, a project which began in mid-2005, continued through surprises (asbestos!) and by 2007 had restored our building to something resembling its original, early-1900s appearance. Many thanks to project coordinator Oscar Hult and the dozens of volunteers who put so much time and effort into this project!

But the job of maintaining an old building is never done. As always, much of the work will be done by volunteers. To find out about upcoming work parties,

• Subscribe to our e-mail list
• Contact our volunteer coordinator

While box office revenue pays our production and overhead costs, individual and corporate donations are what permit us to continue improving our theater and our production equipment.

Here's how things looked from the inside in the early months of our 2007 facade restoration. (Photo by Oscar Hult)