In September 2012, a group of local residents gathered together in an effort to revive previous attempts to restore the jewel of our historic downtown, the Lompoc Theatre.
The group that resulted, the Lompoc Theatre Project, has relentlessly pursued this goal for the last two years, encountering an unprecedented tangle of liens, agencies and issues. To see this local treasure approach 90 years old in such a state of decay has been as frustrating to those of us in the trenches as it has been to everyone in the community.
But at this moment, there is little more that we, the Lompoc Theatre Project, can do.
We can’t pull one weed. We can’t patch the roof. We can’t fix the marquee. We can’t raise the millions needed for renovation and restoration.
Why? Because we don’t own the building!
We reached a milestone last May when the City of Lompoc signed the Memorandum of Understanding that our Board of Directors approved in March. While this did not give us immediate ownership, the agreement gave us the guidelines to untangle the legal mess, and a list of procedures that will allow us to take ownership and bring the theater back to life.
We quickly fulfilled the requirements within our control. We hoped this momentum would race forward like the California wildfires we all grew up with. Instead, the pace has been more like a volcano — a huge eruption of excitement, followed by action moving at the speed of a lava flow, inches at a time.
Luckily, lava does eventually make it to the sea. And we will make it to the finish line, because we are a tenacious bunch. We have not been idly standing by, waiting for the various agencies and officials to work things out. We have been busy.
We have had several successful fundraisers and volunteer meetings. We have strengthened our organizational foundation and are adding quality new members to our board.
We have contracted with a legendary theater restoration company to create a facility that will be the pride of our town. We have hired a fundraiser who will hit the ground running the minute we take title. We have a calendar of events and a yearly operating budget that will be self-sustaining.
We will be the home for every arts group in the city. No longer will they have to rehearse in their living rooms and garages. They will have a state-of-the-art facility that will help them rise to new artistic heights. And they will have it free of charge.
Groups and businesses will have an event center for meetings and special events. Couples will have the perfect venue in which to say their vows.
The young people of Lompoc will have a new source of jobs, a chance to participate in workshops, and the opportunity to meet artists whose performances on that stage will inspire them to reach for the stars. I know. It happened to me.
And residents of the Lompoc Valley will finally have the performing arts center they deserve. We just need one thing to make it happen. We need to own the theater! Recent developments with various agencies have us optimistic that it will happen by early 2015. After that, the fate of the Lompoc Theatre will finally be in our hands. And in yours. Please check out our website at lompoctheatreproject.org. Please attend a volunteer meeting and become a member of the Lompoc Theatre Project. And join us on Dec. 12, when we will hold a “Sneak Peek” at Montemar Wines to unveil the plans to make our Lompoc Theatre rise again.
— Mark Herrier is a Lompoc native, a stage and film actor and director, and president of the Lompoc Theatre Project’s Board of Directors. He can be reached at markh@lompoctheatre.org.