My name is Kelly Ventura, and I serve on the Board of Directors for The Enchanted Playhouse Theatre Company a local children’s theatre in Visalia, CA. For the past 25 years, we have called The Main Street Theatre in Visalia, CA (a theatre designed by S. Charles Lee in 1949) our home.
The City of Visalia currently owns the property, and is seriously considering selling. Our company has attempted to purchase the building. However, the City of Visalia has accepted a bid from a real estate developer who intends on turning this historic treasure into restaurants. This will involve a drastic structural change to the building. Our children’s theatre has held true to Mr. Lee’s original intent for the building: local entertainment. This new proposal will not hold true to Mr. Lee’s original design or intent.
Our children’s theatre serves 14,000 local students per year. Since we started in the early 1990s we have served over 300,000 students and performed over 2,000 shows. There are no local theatres that can support our audiences. If we are forced to leave, our outreach efforts will be reduced by 70%. Our theatre is rallying our local community to protest the sale of the building on July 16th at the next Visalia City Council meeting.
As an organization passionate about maintaining the integrity of movie theatres, we ask for your support in keeping S. Charles Lee’s vision alive. Local TV, radio, and newspaper media have run this story and are sympathetic to our local children’s theatre. I have included a link to the most recent article. Please consider helping us in any way you can.
My name is Kelly Ventura, and I serve on the Board of Directors for The Enchanted Playhouse Theatre Company a local children’s theatre in Visalia, CA. For the past 25 years, we have called The Main Street Theatre in Visalia, CA (a theatre designed by S. Charles Lee in 1949) our home.
The City of Visalia currently owns the property, and is seriously considering selling. Our company has attempted to purchase the building. However, the City of Visalia has accepted a bid from a real estate developer who intends on turning this historic treasure into restaurants. This will involve a drastic structural change to the building. Our children’s theatre has held true to Mr. Lee’s original intent for the building: local entertainment. This new proposal will not hold true to Mr. Lee’s original design or intent.
Our children’s theatre serves 14,000 local students per year. Since we started in the early 1990s we have served over 300,000 students and performed over 2,000 shows. There are no local theatres that can support our audiences. If we are forced to leave, our outreach efforts will be reduced by 70%. Our theatre is rallying our local community to protest the sale of the building on July 16th at the next Visalia City Council meeting.
As an organization passionate about maintaining the integrity of movie theatres, we ask for your support in keeping S. Charles Lee’s vision alive. Local TV, radio, and newspaper media have run this story and are sympathetic to our local children’s theatre. I have included a link to the most recent article. Please consider helping us in any way you can.
https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/entertainment/arts/2018/05/14/enchanted-playhouse-says-visalias-main-street-theater-sold-et-theater-sold/606029002/
Our website is www.enchantedplayhouse.org. You can also look us up on Facebook.