Northern Stage team members outside the new space Credit: Courtesy The curtain is rising on the next act for Northern Stage: a new venue that will greatly expand its ability to host theatrical productions and year-round educational programs. The professional theater company in White River Juncti on announced earlier this month that it had purchased the building right behind its home in the Barrette Center for the Arts. Northern Stage wasn’t in the market for new digs but has been tight on space for years, according to Carol Dunne, the company’s producing artistic director. The main stage and two tiny classrooms in Barrette are heavily scheduled, with events happening there nearly every day. So when the Veterans of Foreign Wars post next door closed last fall and went on the market, the theater company jumped at the opportunity to buy the building. Managing director Jason Smoller described the hall as “lovingly taken care of by the VFW.” “We walked into the building and said to each other, ‘Oh, my goodness! We don’t have to do anything!’” Smoller recalled. The 8,000-square-foot space includes a 3,000-square-foot dance floor with a stage, a beautifully maintained bar, and about 4,000 square feet of storage space for costumes, props and set pieces. Northern Stage will continue to operate its main stage in the Barrette. The new theater will be able to seat about 150 people in various configurations. “We want it to be that funky, cool space where we do plays that we’ve always wanted to do but we couldn’t put on the main stage” because they were edgier or more avant-garde, Dunne said. The nonprofit company purchased the VFW hall for $800,000 with a bank loan, reserve funds and “not insignificant philanthropic support,” Smoller said. Despite the building’s good condition, several months of renovations are needed, including a new sprinkler system to bring the building up to code. Once Northern Stage adds theatrical lighting and a fresh coat of paint, the as-yet-unnamed venue should be ready to host productions and camps by summer. Northern Stage serves about 250 kids ages 6 to 18, as well as college students, throughout the year. “What this building does for us is it gives our education program a home,” Smoller said. In fact, the first scheduled production in the new theater will be a musical performed by elementary and middle school students. Northern Stage’s new theater is only the latest evidence of its real estate expansion. As Seven Days reported in September, the company completed construction last fall on 18 new apartments that can house as many as two dozen visiting artists and staff who come to White River Junction for traveling productions. “We’re just growing,” Smoller added, noting that the company routinely sells out its shows. “To us, that’s everything. It means we matter to the community.” ➆ The post Northern Stage Acquires New Performance and Teaching Space appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less