November 23, 2005

Back to the table of Contents Page

Classifieds

Palo Alto Online

Lights out at Spangenberg

by Alexandria Rocha

Luc Jacquet's penguins' final march across the screen in Gunn High School's Spangenberg Theatre will take place Saturday. The same goes for Dai Sijie's vision of China in the early 1970s, and Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler's love affair during the Civil War.

After four years of offering old and independent films, it's curtains for the movie program at Spangenberg. Saturday's shows will include "March of the Penguins," "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress," and "Gone With the Wind."

Then the popcorn will stop popping and the movie posters will come down.

At issue is a difference in opinion between Gunn Principal Noreen Likins and Joelle Champney, the founder of the nonprofit organization running the program, about how the theatre should look and be used.

"Its been transformed from a high-school theatre-arts lobby to a movie house, decorated with posters and fairy lights and popcorn machines," Likins said. "It was not the face that Gunn High School needs to show to the public."

Spangenberg Theatre will continue to operate as usual without the movies. With about 3,000 seats and a large stage, the facility is used for guest speakers, school plays and musical events.

In the past year, Likins said she has received numerous complaints from others who use the facility about trash and a popcorn smell. One day Likins walked by the lobby and saw movie posters covering up student artwork. She asked Jorgen Wedseltoft, the theater manager and a school-district employee, to take down the posters, stop selling concessions and beef up maintenance.

"This is a school theater and student artwork needs to be respected," Likins said. "They've decided that if they can't have it their way then it's no way."

Wedseltoft sees it differently.

"I don't know why it couldn't be run as a movie house," he said. "I wouldn't go to a movie house that didn't sell popcorn and drinks."

Likins said she didn't want the movie program to shut down, she simply wanted Spangenberg to be treated as a high-school visual and performing arts theater, which is its main purpose.

For Champney, it's more of a personal matter than one of interior design or smell.

"The school principal does not like us. She has come up with things that are new that we don't even know. She just does not like us," she said. "It's easy for me just to get out of it."

Champney said she routinely cleaned the theater immaculately and never touched the walls. However, she admitted volunteers were tired after a movie last week and decided to clean up about 10 a.m. the next morning, a school day. But Likins was disappointed when she saw the mess before anyone came to pick it up. Even still, Champney is convinced Focus Cinema is being run out for other unknown reasons.

"We put the carpet in, she wants to remove the carpet. The carpet was a problem. The lights were a problem. Now it's the smell of the popcorn. We cleaned the theater so well, it's never been cleaned so well. We were so scared," she said.

About four years ago, Wedseltoft decided to bring in Focus Cinema as a way to raise money for maintenance and upgrades. Champney's organization, which was established specifically for the Spangenberg project, agreed to rent the theater for $1,000 a month. In the first two years, that brought in $24,000, although Focus Cinema did not use the theater every weekend.

"The program was designed to raise money for the theater. It's not something the school is putting on; it's something Joelle put on to raise money for the school, and it doesn't seem to be appreciated," Wedseltoft said.

The money was used for high-end equipment, carpeting, advertising materials, such as posters, and the cost of renting movies from distributors, which also take a commission from the box office.

At $5 a ticket and similarly priced concessions, Focus Cinema would break even when there were at least 50 moviegoers over a weekend. But, that wasn't always the case, and sometimes there would be as few as 20 people at a movie. That surprised Champney and Wedseltoft, who thought Palo Altans would be interested in seeing the documentaries and old films offered, such as "Pink Floyd The Wall" and "Smile."

In the third year, 2004, Focus Cinema only used the theater for 11 months, bringing in $11,000 to the school. This year, Champney said, the movie program has used the theater just six and a half months for $6,500.

Champney said there have been fewer movies this year because the school has been using the theater more for other purposes, not because of low attendance. She said she might look into taking Focus Cinemas elsewhere.

For show times up to Saturday, visit www.spangenbergtheatre.com.

Staff Writer Alexandria Rocha can be reached at arocha@paweekly.com.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.