Jwballer, the renovation hasn’t even started yet. Right now they’re projecting for this thing to be done by 2011. At this rate, who knows when it will ever open. But it’s practically open right now. A church currently rents out the theater, because as we all know Wheaton needs more churches. Of course this place is perfect for rock concerts. I don’t know why the powers that be have decided that rock concerts are not ok. Apparently actually making money is not high on the list of things to do at the theater.
Perhaps someone can tell me if rock concerts will ever be welcome in the newly restored wheaton grand, if that ever happens. Because rock and roll has been banned from there for the past 3 years. Is this a scene from footloose? Are they taking a page from wheaton college and rather than banning dancing they ban rock music? I’m glad Mr Shepardson and the board have taken something that was great for the community and especially great for the teens in wheaton and surrounding areas, and replaced it with yet another church. Sure a church will serve some people, but I think wheaton has every possible denomination covered.
Am I the only person out there who’s wondering just when the theater is going to START the restoration? There’s been all this talk, plenty of hype, plenty of articles, and so far still nothing. So far it doesn’t even appear that a significant amount of that 8 million has even been raised. According to the blurb at the top, the theater closed April 1st, 2006. That means in a couple weeks, it will have been officially 2 years since the theater closed. And what exactly has been achieved since then?
According to the newsletter on the website, all that’s been going on is the occasional fundraiser for other groups. Maybe this seems like a benchmark for some, but to only accomplish a handfull of fundraisers and come up with a small fraction of what is needed, in 2 years, seems pretty minor to me.
Standing outside the theater it’s not even evident that anything is going on. A church has been occupying the theater for the past year or so. They’ve put more money into remodeling the theater than the Grand Theater Corp has for the past 2 years. Of course a minor facelift doesn’t change the fact that the church is running the place into the ground. Some would say it looks better than ever. I’m not sure what theater they’re looking at. I’ve been inside, and the place is a dump. Is the executive board of the GTC even aware of what’s going on inside? Last I was there, the floors were sticky, the garbage was smelling up the entire building, and the roaches scatter when you turn on the light. It sure doesn’t seem like there’s much upkeep going into the place.
When are the residents of Wheaton going to stop ignoring what’s going on, and start asking questions? I for one would like to know what’s going on. The website hasn’t been updated in months. The last post here in Cinema Treasures was in December, but the last actual news was back in August. Is the board even holding monthly meetings anymore? These used to be open to the public, so the residents could know what was going on. Since the theater closed, I haven’t seen a single notice on the website or at the theater itself about any meetings. Are these meetings being held and just not told to anyone? Seems the board is conducting business in a rather secretive manner. Perhaps they won’t want anyone asking questions. But I’m sure this is something that some board member will come on here and dismiss as paranoid garbage.
With the Paul Warshauer disaster, people on here that don’t have wonderful things to say about the theater are generally regarded as lunatics who are against the theater. Don’t get me wrong here, I support the theater. I’m one of the many who would love to see the theater restored. But barring that, I’d rather see it be used for some public use, instead of sitting dormant waiting for the funds to come in (if they ever come in). I don’t consider a church to be public use, but I’m sure many will. Wheaton has more churchs per capita than any other city in the country. Do we really need more?
When are the residents of Wheaton going to start asking, what qualifies this executive board to run a theater? Do any of them have any experience running a theater or any performance arts venue? Granted Ray Shepardson has a lot of experience, but he’s not on the executive board. In the past the board has demonstrated an inability to run this theater. This board is the one that hired Paul Warshauer and GVI to run the theater. This worked great, for Paul. He sure made plenty of money. Of course, it would have been even more ideal if he had paid his rental on the theater. The board made the mistake of hiring this guy in the first place. Did they even check his references? Obviously he has a trail of mistakes from past venues, something that became abundantly clear as they tried to get rid of him. But he was hired regardless of this. This board has even failed in firing him. It took months to finally get him out of the place. In the end it had to come down to changing the locks in the middle of the night. Some may claim that this was simply because he refused to leave, which indeed was true. But why did they wait so long? He paid only partial rent for 2 months, and then no rent for another 2 months. And then even after his departure, the board continued to keep some of his scheduled shows on the books, and even pay him a partial commission for some.
And why exactly did this board stop the rock concerts? The posts on here claim it was to start the fundraising campaign. This makes no sense to me. The way to raise $8 million is to stop the sole source of income the theater has? I’ve seen it been claimed that ALL events in the theater needed to be stopped to accomodate this fundraising process, not just the concerts. And that perfectly explains why the theater was rented out for several private functions, and eventually to the Antioch Community Church, who still occupy it. Why was it just concerts that were cancelled? In my opinion they were doing good for the community. It gave the kids something to do and kept them off the streets. Granted the streets of Wheaton aren’t exactly riddled with crime, but I’ve never seen so many teenagers downtown as I have when the concerts were going on there. So what exactly is the harm in that?
It seems that the lack of any real progress at the theater is directly due to mis-management. The theater board lacks any real expertise in the operation or restoration of a theater. Now I’m not saying this board should be replaced. I’m not saying the concerts need to be reinstated. I’m not saying the building should be a parking lot. What I am saying is that it’s time for the residents of Wheaton and the friends of the theater to start asking, what’s going on? I’d like to see this theater restored, but after 2 years of little progress, I’m doubtful that they’re going to come up with that $8 million, and after that falls though I have no confidence that this board can come up with a plan B.
Even though I’m sure someone from the theater will come and delete this immediately, I hope enough have read this to at least get the questions started. And I encourage anyone from the executive board to come and answer the questions I’ve mentioned.
Jwballer, the renovation hasn’t even started yet. Right now they’re projecting for this thing to be done by 2011. At this rate, who knows when it will ever open. But it’s practically open right now. A church currently rents out the theater, because as we all know Wheaton needs more churches. Of course this place is perfect for rock concerts. I don’t know why the powers that be have decided that rock concerts are not ok. Apparently actually making money is not high on the list of things to do at the theater.
Perhaps someone can tell me if rock concerts will ever be welcome in the newly restored wheaton grand, if that ever happens. Because rock and roll has been banned from there for the past 3 years. Is this a scene from footloose? Are they taking a page from wheaton college and rather than banning dancing they ban rock music? I’m glad Mr Shepardson and the board have taken something that was great for the community and especially great for the teens in wheaton and surrounding areas, and replaced it with yet another church. Sure a church will serve some people, but I think wheaton has every possible denomination covered.
Am I the only person out there who’s wondering just when the theater is going to START the restoration? There’s been all this talk, plenty of hype, plenty of articles, and so far still nothing. So far it doesn’t even appear that a significant amount of that 8 million has even been raised. According to the blurb at the top, the theater closed April 1st, 2006. That means in a couple weeks, it will have been officially 2 years since the theater closed. And what exactly has been achieved since then?
According to the newsletter on the website, all that’s been going on is the occasional fundraiser for other groups. Maybe this seems like a benchmark for some, but to only accomplish a handfull of fundraisers and come up with a small fraction of what is needed, in 2 years, seems pretty minor to me.
Standing outside the theater it’s not even evident that anything is going on. A church has been occupying the theater for the past year or so. They’ve put more money into remodeling the theater than the Grand Theater Corp has for the past 2 years. Of course a minor facelift doesn’t change the fact that the church is running the place into the ground. Some would say it looks better than ever. I’m not sure what theater they’re looking at. I’ve been inside, and the place is a dump. Is the executive board of the GTC even aware of what’s going on inside? Last I was there, the floors were sticky, the garbage was smelling up the entire building, and the roaches scatter when you turn on the light. It sure doesn’t seem like there’s much upkeep going into the place.
When are the residents of Wheaton going to stop ignoring what’s going on, and start asking questions? I for one would like to know what’s going on. The website hasn’t been updated in months. The last post here in Cinema Treasures was in December, but the last actual news was back in August. Is the board even holding monthly meetings anymore? These used to be open to the public, so the residents could know what was going on. Since the theater closed, I haven’t seen a single notice on the website or at the theater itself about any meetings. Are these meetings being held and just not told to anyone? Seems the board is conducting business in a rather secretive manner. Perhaps they won’t want anyone asking questions. But I’m sure this is something that some board member will come on here and dismiss as paranoid garbage.
With the Paul Warshauer disaster, people on here that don’t have wonderful things to say about the theater are generally regarded as lunatics who are against the theater. Don’t get me wrong here, I support the theater. I’m one of the many who would love to see the theater restored. But barring that, I’d rather see it be used for some public use, instead of sitting dormant waiting for the funds to come in (if they ever come in). I don’t consider a church to be public use, but I’m sure many will. Wheaton has more churchs per capita than any other city in the country. Do we really need more?
When are the residents of Wheaton going to start asking, what qualifies this executive board to run a theater? Do any of them have any experience running a theater or any performance arts venue? Granted Ray Shepardson has a lot of experience, but he’s not on the executive board. In the past the board has demonstrated an inability to run this theater. This board is the one that hired Paul Warshauer and GVI to run the theater. This worked great, for Paul. He sure made plenty of money. Of course, it would have been even more ideal if he had paid his rental on the theater. The board made the mistake of hiring this guy in the first place. Did they even check his references? Obviously he has a trail of mistakes from past venues, something that became abundantly clear as they tried to get rid of him. But he was hired regardless of this. This board has even failed in firing him. It took months to finally get him out of the place. In the end it had to come down to changing the locks in the middle of the night. Some may claim that this was simply because he refused to leave, which indeed was true. But why did they wait so long? He paid only partial rent for 2 months, and then no rent for another 2 months. And then even after his departure, the board continued to keep some of his scheduled shows on the books, and even pay him a partial commission for some.
And why exactly did this board stop the rock concerts? The posts on here claim it was to start the fundraising campaign. This makes no sense to me. The way to raise $8 million is to stop the sole source of income the theater has? I’ve seen it been claimed that ALL events in the theater needed to be stopped to accomodate this fundraising process, not just the concerts. And that perfectly explains why the theater was rented out for several private functions, and eventually to the Antioch Community Church, who still occupy it. Why was it just concerts that were cancelled? In my opinion they were doing good for the community. It gave the kids something to do and kept them off the streets. Granted the streets of Wheaton aren’t exactly riddled with crime, but I’ve never seen so many teenagers downtown as I have when the concerts were going on there. So what exactly is the harm in that?
It seems that the lack of any real progress at the theater is directly due to mis-management. The theater board lacks any real expertise in the operation or restoration of a theater. Now I’m not saying this board should be replaced. I’m not saying the concerts need to be reinstated. I’m not saying the building should be a parking lot. What I am saying is that it’s time for the residents of Wheaton and the friends of the theater to start asking, what’s going on? I’d like to see this theater restored, but after 2 years of little progress, I’m doubtful that they’re going to come up with that $8 million, and after that falls though I have no confidence that this board can come up with a plan B.
Even though I’m sure someone from the theater will come and delete this immediately, I hope enough have read this to at least get the questions started. And I encourage anyone from the executive board to come and answer the questions I’ve mentioned.