Watseka Theatre

rocmaven on May 27, 2011 at 7:14 pm

Hot Country Music Artist Josh Thompson @ Watseka Theatre Watseka IL will perform in concert on Friday August 5, 2011 @ 7:30PM.
Josh Thompson’s sensational debut CD has produced three top 40 hits for him on the charts: “Beer on the Table”, “Way Out Here” and “Won’t Be Lonely Long”. Come see this great concert at the historic Watseka Theatre Watseka Illinois on Friday August 5, 2011. A native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, Josh Thompson began pouring concrete with his father at the age of 12, giving him first hand insight about the trials of hard-working men everywhere. After arriving in Nashville in 2005, Thompson instantly began writing and quickly established himself as a country artist on the rise. He received his first major songwriter credit with a song called “Growing Up Is Getting Old” which is the title track of Jason Michael Carroll’s current album. Thompson formed a band and drew in a huge fan base by playing raucous, energetic live shows all over the country. Josh’s raw talent, in both songwriting and performing, caught the attention of hit songwriters and eventually led to a major record deal with Columbia Nashville. Thompson’s blue collar lifestyle influences every song he has written, as he tells his stories with candor, honesty and a good-natured spirit. His debut single, “Beer On The Table,” is one of the most down-to-earth working man’s anthems in years, a look at the dance between work and play, and the hard-won, easy-go nature of money that ties them together. That work ethic, the honesty in his writing and the energy in his performances have combined to make Josh a powerful new voice in country music. His Columbia Nashville debut, Way Out Here, showcases a man who has lived the music he makes. Produced by Michael Knox (Jason Aldean) Way Out Here features 10 songs solely written or cowritten by Josh. Check out www.joshthompsonofficial.com . The Watseka Theatre is a beautiful 1931 restored 375 seat art deco venue. It features a gourmet restaurant and full bar. Watseka is located 92 miles south of Chicago. All ages are admitted. Tickets are $55.,$45.,$35.,$25. available at the theatre, by phone (815) 993-6585 or on line at www.watsekatheatre.com .

rocmaven on April 30, 2011 at 11:55 pm

Classic Country Music Legends, Bellamy Brothers in concert @ Watseka Theatre, 218 East Walnut Street, Watseka IL on Friday, July 15, 2011 @ 8:00 PM. The Bellamy Brothers are an American pop and country music duo brothers David Milton Bellamy and Homer Howard Bellamy from Darby, Fl. The duo had considerable musical success in the 1970s and 1980s, starting with the release of their crossover hit “Let Your Love Flow” in 1976, a Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting in the late 1970s, the Bellamy Brothers found success in country music as well, charting twenty Number One singles and more than fifty hits overall on the country charts. To date, they have released more than fifty albums, primarily on Curb Records. “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me” , “Redneck Girl”; “I Need More Of You”, “Santa Fe”, “Old Hippie”, “Kids of the Baby Boom.”,“Guilty Of The Crime”, “When I’m Away from You”, “Some Broken Hearts” & “Jalepenos” are among their classic hits. The Watseka Theatre is a 1931 beautiful restored 375 seat art deco theatre located 92 miles south of Chicago. The theatre features a gourmet restaurant as well as a full bar. Tickets $25., $35. & $60. are available at the theatre, by phone (815) 993- 6585 or on line at www.watsekatheatre.com .All Ages are admitted to concerts.

DJMitchell on January 6, 2011 at 11:01 pm

Don’t miss the fantastic MARTY STUART coming Independence Day Weekend Saturday July 2, 2011 to The Watseka Theatre Watseka IL. Tickets are on sale now by phone (815)993-6585 or www.watsekatheatre.com . Since starting out singing gospel as a child, the bluegrass stint with Lester Flatt in the ‘70s, the six years with Johnny Cash in the ‘80s, and coming up with his smash “hillbilly rock” hits of the ‘90s, the four time GRAMMY winner, platinum recording artist, Grand Ole Opry star, country music memorabilia preservationist, stylist, designer, photographer, songwriter, all around renaissance man, charismatic force of nature, and (first of all, perhaps),leader of the extraordinary, versatile touring and recording band The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart has shown a showman’s zest for every conceivable flavor of country music. Not to mention, a missionary’s zeal for bringing the importance of the music and its themes home to longtime fans and newcomers alike. Musicologist Peter North cites, “Marty Stuart seems wrapped in his destiny at this point in time. Not only as country music’s most notable ambassador/caretaker, but as its main archetypical crusader. He has without question evolved into one of the most important roots musicians and visionaries in America.” RFD-TV’s The Marty Stuart Show, which adds a new chapter each week to the tradition of simple, electrifying country TV with varied live sounds, and top level guests. The Marty Stuart TV Show is currently the number one program on the network, as it has been for the last two years. Marty Stuart’s hit recordings include; “Tempted”,“This One’s Gonna Hurt You”,“Hillbilly Rock”, “Country Boy Rock N Roll”, “Doing My Time”, “Farmer Blues”, “Little Things”, “Burn Me Down”, “Hey Baby”, “That’s What Loves About”, “Kiss Me I’m Gone”, & “Thanks To You”. The Watseka Theatre is a beautiful totally renovated 1931 art deco 380 seat theatre. Its located 92 miles from Chicago. The theatre has a gourmet restaurant and full bar. This concert is open to all ages.

DJMitchell on September 5, 2010 at 10:00 am

The Watseka Theatre is presenting Country music star, RCA Recording Artist Chuck Wicks on Saturday Oct 2, 2010. Coming Valentines Day Weekend Saturday Feb 12, 2011, The Marshall Tucker Band.

lostmemory on May 17, 2009 at 5:20 pm

1982 Photo

1986 Photo

lostmemory on February 11, 2008 at 4:34 pm

The year given for this photo is 2000.

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen on January 5, 2008 at 9:41 pm

Well as you know if you now click the above you now can no longer read the article or see the photos. I don’t really expect anyone to subscribe to the Journal just to read this one article. I guess there must be some some way to scan the article and photos, but I don’t know how to do that so I will just type it out. Is that legal? My typing isn’t the greatest, sorry for any mistakes, wish we had spell check. Sorry about the photos.
From the Kankakee, Illinois, Daily Journal, Friday, December 28,2007

Local couple restores an art deco theater

Watseka—On New Year’s Eve, when the restored Watseka Theatre will reopen to the public after nine years, guests won’t get popcorn and a movie.

Instead they will get a look at what a former Cissna Park music teacher has been daydreaming about for 30 years—a hub for art and culture.

That former teacher, Chuck Gormez, and Debra Liddell, a dentist, will reopen The Watseka Theatre not as a movie house, but as a performing arts center available to rent.

The 1931 structure, which Gomez called an art deco treasure, is much more than a theater now. The building has a new bar, cafe, lounge and banquet room complete with closed-circuit television to watch the acts next door.

So far, the only other event (besides the New Year’s Eve Party) nailed down is a March 29 (2008) benefit by the Iroquois County Historical Society that will feature a singing act called the Sweethearts of Branson, Mo. But Gomez says that many local organizations are interested in bringing performers to Watseka or in using the building for their own dances, concerts and recitals.

The restoration has even attracted the attention of a filmaker who is working on a documentary about the project and will include interviews with local people, Gomez said.

A ‘brutal’ job

Gomez makes a living as a special events producer and produces the Columbia College graduation in Chicago each year. However, he has never restored a theater.

This isn’t just any theater, though. Gomez said that Louis Skidmore (1897-1962), the architect for the Hancock Center and the Sears Tower, designed the building.

It’s also seeped in local history. Gomez has heard stories from local couples who met and fell in love there, and even of a small group of men who pledged to enlist after hearing the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor moments before the movie started.

Liddel and Gomez, who live in Watseka, bought the theater last spring and began cleaning it out. The basement was practecally filled with debris.

“We spent two month just cleaning,” Gomez said, “It was brutal.”

Since then. the theater partners have used “ever contractor in Watseka”

While he had copies of the original blueprints, some elements were too expensive to restore. Take the crowns and sconces inside the theater. The original crowns were made from horsehair and plaster and were mounted atop columns of black-painted brick on either side of the theater. They would have been prohibitively expensive to replace, so FP Fiberglass' Fred Cahoe and Scott Burdick turned out replicas of these and other plaster decor that had fallen victims to water damage.

Cahoe said it was a challenging job because the goal was to make the fiberglass look like plaster, not a smooth, contemporary looking surface. “You want to make sure the flaws are back in it,” said Cahoe. “Plaster doesn’t have a certain design.”

Painting a new era

The theraer has been downsized from more than 600 seats to 425 new, wider theater chairs.

The auditorium originally had a shallow stage in front of the movie screen for vaudeille acts. The theater was built as the movies were eclipsing the older style of live entertainment. In a way, the renovation project is a throwback because the movie screen has been relocated to the rear wall of the stage area opening up a much larger space for singer, dancers, actors and musicians.

Several original murals are also in the process of being redone. Watseka artist Kathy Blunk created an impressionistic vision of the princess Watch-e-kee (after whom Watseka is named) for the lobby. Liddell painted a new Native American warrior to replace the faded one on the right-hand side of the stage. The image has been emlarged to about 20 feet high and is being hung this week. Originally, there was another male on the left hand side of the stage. However, Liddell is replacing him with a female Native American bearing a dream catcher, instead of a weapon.

In the lobby, art deco touches can be seen in the original terazzo floor, original floor-to-ceiling columns and in the original houndstooth crown moulding, which meets a scalloped design around the edge of the ceiling. The lobby color scheme is teal, nougat and rust — an art deco color scheme, according to Gomez.

The houndstooth is reminiscent of arrows, a design element that was present on the sconces and on the valance over the stage. The black vlance had to be mostly reconstructed, although it’s ready to to put up. In addition to arrowheads, it bears images of large water birds native to this area, which migrate in arrow formations.

And while the marquee still awaits transformation into a white-on-black neon sign, Gomez said Monday that 90 percent of the planned restortation will be finshed by New Year’s Eve.

Photo: Both the original chandelier and scoces survive in the lobby of the Watseka Theatre. An even larger, original chandelier hangs in the auditorium.

Photo: Debra Liddell holds up some of the artwork she had hand crafted for the Watseka Theatre.

Photo: Mike Brubach, of Bradley, and Dave Gudeman, of Dave’s Carpentry in Watseka, hang the crowns above the columns in the Watseka Theatre on Monday morning.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, This is CINERAMA!”

toothslayer on November 8, 2007 at 5:25 am

www.watsekatheatre.com Visit this site for current information regarding this fabulous Art Deco Theatre. It is opening with style, grace and a huge gala on New Years Eve, 2007.

WTM on June 8, 2007 at 10:32 am

Contributed by Watseka Theatre, Charles Gomez.

Not Bryan Krefft!

P.S.
I love your site here and have spent way too much of my time looking up oh so many of your listed theaters. Thanks for a great web site!
Peace,
chuck,

titus on March 11, 2007 at 4:27 am

Does anyone know the current status of this theatre ?

btkrefft on October 11, 2005 at 3:14 am

BoxOffice, if you’re interested, you might want to try contacting the City of Watseka at their website to get more information on the availability of the theatre.

lostmemory on April 6, 2005 at 9:34 am

Here is a photo of the Watseka Theater:
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