North Park Theatre Restoration
In 2001 the company was offered the opportunity to take part in the restoration of the historic North Park Theatre, located at 2891 University Avenue. Originally built in 1928, this once-thriving 1,200 seat movie theater closed in 1989. After lying vacant for more than 15 years, the North Park community and the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego were undertaking a revitalization campaign for the community. The centerpiece of their plan was the restoration of the North Park Theatre as an 800-seat live performance venue. A 390-space parking garage was also built to accommodate the increased traffic.
Entering into a partnership with developer Bud Fischer, the company embarked on a two-year fundraising campaign to raise $8 million toward the renovation of the theater. In 2003 the final name change was effected and the company became Lyric Opera San Diego, to better reflect its goals, its accomplishments, and its future plans. The fully renovated, state-of-the-art theater opened in October 2005 as The Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre, with Lyric Opera San Diego as its managing tenant. This made the company one of only twelve opera companies in the United States that own or operate their own venues, and the only one in California. However, mortgage and other costs proved an enormous financial strain on the company. Lyric Opera put the property up for sale in January 2011, but was unable to find a buyer. In October 2011 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. There were no productions in 2012, and as of November 2012 their website offered only advertising links to other shows. The Birch North Park Theatre was still in use for occasional film festivals and musical or theatrical performances.
Read more about this topic: Lyric Opera San Diego
Famous quotes containing the words north, park, theatre and/or restoration:
“The Bostonians are really, as a race, far inferior in point of anything beyond mere intellect to any other set upon the continent of North America. They are decidedly the most servile imitators of the English it is possible to conceive.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd.”
—Sarah Bernhardt (1845–1923)
“In comparison to the French Revolution, the American Revolution has come to seem a parochial and rather dull event. This, despite the fact that the American Revolution was successful—realizing the purposes of the revolutionaries and establishing a durable political regime—while the French Revolution was a resounding failure, devouring its own children and leading to an imperial despotism, followed by an eventual restoration of the monarchy.”
—Irving Kristol (b. 1920)