Michigan Theater returns to roots

By the time University students return from summer break, the Michigan Theater will be very different from when they left town.

The historic theater is undergoing a $4.4-million renovation that will peel off the current facade to restore the theater to its 1928 look.

Several rooms also will be added to the theater's north side. The north side addition will include a 200-seat screening room that "will have state-of-the-art equipment," said Michigan Theater Executive Director Russell Collins.

Unlike the main 1,700-seat theater, which hosts traveling Broadway shows, rock concerts and other performances, the screening room will only be used for movies, Collins said.

The new room will increase the selection and frequency of movie screenings. Most movie distributors don't allow theaters to run movies for less than seven straight days, Collins said. With all the events the theater is used for, it can rarely set as

SARA STILLMAN/Daily The Michigan Theater is to undergo a $4.4-million renovation this year that will restore the theater's original 1928 appearance and add a new screening room.

ide seven days for consecutive showings.

The theater opened in 1928 as a place to view silent movies accompanied by live organ music. This "multimedia" design set up the theater to cater both to video and musical performances, he said.

The renovations will be extensive, beginning with the theater's facade and adding decorative turrets to the corners of the building. The marquee itself, which dates back to when the theater was renovated in 1956, will be replaced by a smaller marquee to expose more of the facade's antique ornamentation.

The lobby and ticket booth will also be replaced by a booth that more closely resembles the original. The present walls in the lobby will be pulled down to display the earlier plasterwork that lies beneath them.

Collins said architects referred to the theater's original blueprints and early photographs for the restoration. The renovation is scheduled to be finished by December, he said.

Louisa Piper, Ann Arbor's historic preservation coordinator, said the city bought the building in 1979 primarily through the influence of then-Mayor Louis Belcher, who wanted to preserve it.

"It was considered a real asset to the community," said Piper, adding that it is unusual for a city to buy properties it wants to keep for community purposes.

"It's usually the worst way" to preserve a building, Piper said. "Rarely can a city organize the funding to buy it."

After the city purchased the theater, the Michigan Theater Foundation took over operations of the historic building. Today, 20 percent of the theater's operating costs are funded through private donations, Collins said.

Collins said the theater's non-profit status has allowed it to avoid the debilitating effects of market pressure on downtown theaters to give up space to retail operations or to subdivide into multiplexes.

The Campus Theater on South University Avenue fell victim to these pressures, Collins said.

"They tore that one down because it was inefficient to subdivide," Collins said.

Collins said the State Theater was also affected.

"The State Theater used to be one big theater," Collins said. "The main floor was gutted and turned into real estate." The State's balcony was converted into two screening rooms and its ground floor now houses the Urban Outfitters clothing store.

04-15-98