Indefatigable. That is the single best word I could come up with to describe the husband and wife team of Chuck Requet and Elizabeth Auxier. They are the driving force behind the inexorable renovation at our beloved downtown Ohio Theater.
“We created the non-profit in March of 2016 and have been volunteering since then,” explains Elizabeth. “Chuck and I don’t own the Ohio Theatre, it’s owned and managed by our non-profit board, Friends of the Ohio Theatre, Inc. None of us have been paid for our work, nor will we ever be.
“We look at the project, and our efforts over the years, as our gift to the community. It will be a tremendous legacy when it is done, and it will absolutely be completed eventually, make no mistake.
“I’ll be the first to admit it has taken longer than we envisioned when we joined the effort 9 years ago. But as most people know, we had a pretty devastating fire in 2018, followed right on its heels by the big COVID shutdown. It’s been a challenge to keep up momentum, but we made a commitment and we will stick by the theater until it is done.
Astute theater watchers may have noticed that the Ohio has been dormant for a few months, without the usual movies, music and other programming that happens fairly regularly. “We have been upgrading and renovating the theater in stages,” explains Elizabeth. “When we get enough funding to tackle another phase, we shut things down and do the work, then open back up and let the community resume using and enjoying the space.
“We did a long shut down a couple years ago when we gutted the interior, took out the seats, and returned the balcony back to its original configuration. Our most recent shutdown allowed us to do a number of additional exciting repairs and upgrades. We will re-open on September 20th for another fun wrestling event, and everyone can come and see the progress.
“The two big things we accomplished this time was enlarging the stage and leveling a section of the floor. We poured a tremendous amount of concrete to raise the floor about 9 inches, and create several hundred square feet of new flat floor at the front of the auditorium. The room is now much better suited as a dance floor, cafe style seating with tables, or lots of other uses.
“The other thing people are going to be very excited about is our theater chairs are nearing completion and will be re-installed soon. We plan to have 200 to 300 chairs in by the new year, and ultimately about 600 once we finish the balcony.
“We also have plans to build out first floor level bathrooms, through our acquisition of the property next door to the west of the theater. That extra building is going to give us a lot of flexibility to do a lot of cool things in the future.
“All these planned renovations, and the speed at which we can accomplish them, come down to funding, of course. We are constantly in money-raising mode, and we’ve had great support from the community and the city all along the way. I really feel good about where we are now financially, we’re on very stable ground. But make no mistake, these types of theater renovations are multi-million dollar projects, so it takes time and continuous effort to keep things moving forward.
“But with the completion of the floor and stage renovations this time, we’re ready to re-open on Sept. 20th and just enjoy the theater for a while before the next big phase. You’ll see we have something going on pretty much every weekend for the rest of the year, with Halloween and Christmas film series, a comedy show, wrestling, some music shows and lots more.
“I encourage everyone to visit the theater in the coming months and see the progress. We’ll have a sample section of the restored seating on display in the lobby, and there will be opportunities to sponsor seats and get your name on a plaque on the back of the chairs. The Ohio is Madison’s crown jewel, and we want everyone to show their support and become a part of the success.”
HOT TIP OF THE WEEK:
The big music news for this weekend is the huge music festival happening down on the river on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Based on the sheer national stature and quality of the talent booked for this event, Unbroken Circle Music Festival stands to be the largest music festival ever staged in Madison. The weather is looking great and the advertising has been relentless. In the immortal words from the movie “Field of Dreams,” If you build it, they will come! But if the festival thing is not your scene but you still want to catch some great live music, the opportunities abound in Indiana’s Music City, as always. You can pretty much always count on something going most nights of the week at 1st Street Saloon, Rivertown Grill, Mad Paddle and TIKI Live. These venue owners are carrying the torch that keeps Madison hoppin’, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. Or better yet, just get out and attend their shows, that’s all the “thank you” they need!
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