Sooner Theatre returns to the stage

KIM SHIPMAN

DAILY STAFF WRITER

The 73-year-old Sooner Theatre has been getting a $230,000 face-lift for the past year, and its improved interior will be revealed this week with free performances.

The city of Norman funded most renovations, which bought "a complete refreshing and maintaining of the building's historic surfaces," said Jerry Hargis, Sooner Theatre's interim executive director.

Hargis said the renovation included improvements such as brightened current lights, new auditorium lights, replaced chairs, improved sound and lights, improved dressing rooms with private restrooms and refrigerators and new carpet in most areas of the theater.

The theater's refreshment counter, The Sweet Shoppe, has been moved back to its original location, the southwest corner of the lobby.

None of the building's exterior features could be altered, because the Sooner is on the National Register of Historic Places, Hargis said.

"We have to make sure we don't disturb the existing features," said Mark Krittenbrink of Krittenbrink Architects, who worked on the renovations.

Hargis said that he would not want to change the appearance of the theater.

The city of Norman provided $210,000 for renovations, Hargis said. Other funds were provided by private donors, including the Kerr and Kirkpatrick Foundations and the Friends of Sooner Theatre, he said.

To celebrate the renovations and the reopening, the Sooner has planned a week of free performances for the Norman community, Hargis said. In addition, prominent Norman residents will speak each night on his or her view on patriotism, according to a theatre press statement.

The performers include a contemporary Christian band, Everlasting Praise, solo guitarist Albert Aguilar, a World War II USO show provided by Talk of the Town, pianist Mary Sallee and vocalist Leah Nellis, teen pop group Spoiled Rotten, the Norman Flute Quartet and a performance including opera scenes by the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company, according to a theater press statement.

"Music in Norman is very important, and Sooner Theatre is great in supporting that," Aguilar said, who will be making his debut solo performance Monday night.

Aguilar has been an OU student for the past two years and a member of the popular local band Subroza. Aguilar, who would be a business finance junior, is taking a semester off to travel to Los Angeles to pursue his music career.

The focus of the performances this week will be Norman performance artists, Hargis said.

"Most of our performance artists are going to Oklahoma City because there's no venue here, and that's unfortunate and unnecessary," Hargis said. "We wanted to focus our gala week on Norman artists."

The theater's opening shows begin tonight with performances by Everlasting Praise, Albert Aguilar and speaker Dan Hobbs, retired senior vice chancellor of Oklahoma State Regents. A performance by Talk of the Town and a speech from Andy Rieger, Norman Transcript managing editor, will follow Tuesday. Mary Sallee and Leah Nellis, Spoiled Rotten and speaker George Henderson, OU human relations professor, will be featured Wednesday. The Norman Flute Quartet and Cimarron Circuit Opera Company will perform Thursday. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the theater.
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