Poll: Demolish Stage Center?

[mkjeeves]

JTF, have you ever been inside and/or attended any events at Stage Center?

[jccouger]

How each question is worded on this poll is incredibly skewed to what option you should pick. What a ****ing joke.

[shawnw]

How each question is worded on this poll is incredibly skewed to what option you should pick. What a ****ing joke.

Yes, as I've noted, I worded it that way for a particular reason. Enjoy laughing at the very unscientific poll. You're welcome.

Also, feel free to make your own poll with your own, sure to be better, wording.

[CuatrodeMayo]

While the situation is somewhat different, here is a comparable situation in Portland: Michael Graves's Portland Building Faces Demolition Threat - Architect Magazine

[OKCisOK4me]

That said, when a building achieves a status of arguable national or international importance, it transcends that discussion.

As previously posted by someone else... no one outside of Oklahoma City even knows this building exists unless they're some kind of art movement history buff. Stage Center ain't the Guggenheim! I'm going to post a new thread on skyscraperpage.com forum to see if people know what it is without labeling it as I'm 100% certain the only thing it has transcended is the line between life and death.

[Just the facts]

JTF, have you ever been inside and/or attended any events at Stage Center?

Nope. I moved to metro OKC in 1989. When was the last performance held in Stage Center?

I guess it could be argued that Stage Center has actually caused the demise of live theater in OKC.

http://www.okchistory.com/index.php?...aces&Itemid=77

“It has now broken the back of several (arts agencies); so now to manage it

right, we have to have a variety of companies, and keep it very busy,” the

spokesman said

[Urbanized]

As previously posted by someone else... no one outside of Oklahoma City even knows this building exists unless they're some kind of art movement history buff...

That is our own fault.

[Urbanized]

Nope. I moved to metro OKC in 1989. When was the last performance held in Stage Center? ...

I attended a masterclass hosted by ACM@UCO maybe 3-4 years ago. A great performance of Glengarry Glenn Ross maybe a decade ago. A number of parties and receptions in between. In retrospect I wish I would have supported it better myself.

[Just the facts]

I was really hoping the Arts Council would have sold the land for enough money to fund a new theater downtown but for some reason they appeared to not have.

[zookeeper]

As previously posted by someone else... no one outside of Oklahoma City even knows this building exists unless they're some kind of art movement history buff. Stage Center ain't the Guggenheim! I'm going to post a new thread on skyscraperpage.com forum to see if people know what it is without labeling it as I'm 100% certain the only thing it has transcended is the line between life and death.

You miss the point. Completely. It has nothing to do with how many recognize the Stage Center. Nothing. That's not what makes it valuable. It is art - in and of itself. I could show you many paintings that you wouldn't "recognize" but I would then tell you how much preservation went into them and how they sold for millions of dollars. Your not knowing about that painting has nothing to do with its value as art.

It's obvious you hate the Stage Center with all the "hamster tubes and boxes" comments. You see that, many others see art - beauty. And possibilities!

[Garin]

If their were possibilities for it , a capitalist would have already stepped up and taken it over along time ago. The only people that want to see it stay are those that see it as an art piece. Revenue needs to win out put something there with a purpose. vacationers aren't visiting Oklahoma to come see the Stage Center. The building was useless after it was constructed.

[mkjeeves]

Nope. I'd like to keep attending performances there. As a regular attendee it was great for that.

1989

Saw Macbeth there in maybe 2004ish? Attended The Annual Wintertales Storytelling Festival there pretty regularly and I believe it was held there last in 2009. It changed to a fall event the next year. One of those festivals would probably have been the last time I was there. The flood was in mid 2010.

July 01, 2010
Check out the photos below of the Stage Center after its basement and offices area flooded. Water reached more than five feet high, ruining the office furniture, supplies, performance materials and computer equipment.

Six arts organizations were displaced.

Stage Center Flood Photos

[betts]

You miss the point. Completely. It has nothing to do with how many recognize the Stage Center. Nothing. That's not what makes it valuable. It is art - in and of itself. I could show you many paintings that you wouldn't "recognize" but I would then tell you how much preservation went into them and how they sold for millions of dollars. Your not knowing about that painting has nothing to do with its value as art.

It's obvious you hate the Stage Center with all the "hamster tubes and boxes" comments. You see that, many others see art - beauty. And possibilities!

Thank you. To me it's beautiful. I will be sad every time I walk past whatever boring, mediocre office building they build
there. Or worse yet, a paved parking lot. Oklahoma City will get a lot blander and less memorable with its demise. Anyone think Rainey's building will ever make the pages of an architecture magazine or book? No one will even be able to brag about it on skyscraper city. What a waste.

[MustangGT]

Reality has to come to the fore here. Some buildings have simply deteriorated to the point they are not economically viable. DROP IT!!! Those who want to save it pool your money, buy it, renovate it on your dime with no taxpayer funds. Otherwise give it up!

[zookeeper]

It's time for some of you to watch this.

[zookeeper]

Reality has to come to the fore here. Some buildings have simply deteriorated to the point they are not economically viable. DROP IT!!! Those who want to save it pool your money, buy it, renovate it on your dime with no taxpayer funds. Otherwise give it up!

You are always so rude and abrasive. There's public money going to things you support, we could all list them. Nobody's shouting at you.

[MustangGT]

I am not shouting but I am getting tired of being dogged for no reason. Your opinion is no more or less valuable. And yes I am abrasive but so are many other posters that you neglect to make the mistake to call out. Targeting me huh???

[shawnw]

Zoo, just curious, how much public money do you think should go towards SC? As much as went to the Skirvin restoration? As much as we'd pay to subsidize a convention center hotel? I'm not arguing for or against public money, but asking where the line of reasonableness is in that regard.

[Urbanized]

The Crystal Bridge and Myriad Botanical Gardens don't make money. Neither does the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Should we tear them all down? Public Libraries? The Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum at OU? Admission is free. I sincerely doubt that the attractions at Riversport make profit, especially compared to what it took to build them.

The idea that the litmus test for what exists in a city is whether or not it makes money for someone is laughable, and ridiculous. If that were the case, what an absolutely horrible place that would be to live in.

[jccouger]

The Crystal Bridge and Myriad Botanical Gardens don't make money. Neither does the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Public Libraries? The Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum at OU? Admission is free. I sincerely doubt that the attractions at Riversport make profit, especially compared to what it took to build them.

The idea that the litmus test for what exists in a city is whether or not it makes money for someone is laughable, and ridiculous. If that were the case, what an absolutely horrible place that would be to live in.

Bravo.

[mkjeeves]

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s story is an epic worthy of the Bard. In the midst of fires and floods, the company has continued to grow, and is today one of Oklahoma’s most treasured cultural assets.

<snip>

A spring 1993 production of Othello was produced at Stage Center in downtown Oklahoma City, commencing a tradition that would carry on for the next two decades.
January and February of 1994 featured the second production at Stage Center, Romeo and Juliet. The winter productions downtown presented an excellent opportunity to expose school groups to Shakespeare, in a way the summer productions could not.
The 1994 summer season featured The Taming of the Shrew (which also toured), Antony and Cleopatra, Cyrano de Bergerac and The Tempest.
In January and February of 1995, OSP staged Macbeth at Stage Center.
The 1995 summer productions were Much Ado About Nothing (which also toured), The Comedy of Errors, Wild Oats and Macbeth. This year began the practice of re-staging the winter show at the end of the summer season, a tradition that lasted a decade.
In January and February of 1996, The Winter’s Tale was performed at Stage Center. The 1996 summer season included Love’s Labour’s Lost, Henry IV, part 1, Scapin and The Winter’s Tale.
The winter production at Stage Center in January and February of 1997 was Hamlet. The 1997 Summer Season featured Two Gentlemen of Verona (touring), The Duchess of Malfi, As You Like It and Hamlet.
The 1998 season began with a winter production of Richard III and included summer performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor and a restaging of Richard III.
In 1999, OSP produced King Lear at Stage Center as a part of the new “Stage Center Presents…” series with guest artist Greg Mullavey in the title role.
Summer productions in 1999 included Romeo and Juliet (which also toured), Twelfth Night and King Lear.
The Fires
In March of 2000, the second production in the “Stage Center Presents…” series was Julius Caesar with guest artist Brian Lane Green as Marc Antony.
Productions for the 2000 summer season were The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar.
November and December of 2000 also saw the second staging of A Christmas Carol in downtown Edmond, a tradition that OSP would carry on for several years.
In winter of 2001, the “Stage Center Presents…” production was Much Ado About Nothing with guest artist Richard Gilbert-Hill. The 2001 summer season productions were Henry V, Pericles and Much Ado About Nothing.
On December 12, 2001, a fire destroyed OSP’s Hafer Park stage. Thanks to the generosity of many patrons, friends, and businesses, donations totaling over $25,000 poured in and the stage was rebuilt in time for the 2002 summer season.
Meanwhile, a third production of A Christmas Carol ran in downtown Edmond and toured to Norman and Wewoka.
Guest director Curt Tofteland from the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival staged the 2002 “Stage Center Presents…” production of Macbeth. Macbeth, along with The Comedy of Errors and All’s Well that Ends Well, comprised the 2002 summer season at the rebuilt Hafer Park stage.
In December of 2002, A Christmas Carol was again staged in downtown Edmond and toured to Weatherford, Woodward and Lindsay.
The winter production at Stage Center in March of 2003 was Othello, and the summer season included As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale and Othello.
Following the December, 2003 production of A Christmas Carol at Cafe Broadway in downtown Edmond (and a tour to Ponca City), OSP produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Stage Center in January and February of 2004 with guest artist Mel Cobb of Shakespeare & Company portraying Oberon.
The 2004 20th anniversary summer season featured Twelfth Night, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
December of 2004 saw the annual production of A Christmas Carol relocate to Mitchell Hall at the University of Central Oklahoma, symbolic of OSP’s growing partnership with UCO in Edmond.
In January, 2005 OSP produced Romeo and Juliet at Stage Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
In April of 2005, OSP’s stage in Hafer Park again burned to the ground. With just weeks left till the summer season, board president Craig Barton led the organization into an agreement with the University of Central Oklahoma. For the next two summers, OSP would stage its seasons in UCO’s Plunkett Park.
The 2005 Summer Season featured The Merry Wives of Windsor, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Romeo and Juliet.
The December, 2005 production of A Christmas Carol toured to Mustang, Tishomingo, and the Gaillardia and River Oaks country clubs before running in UCO’s Mitchell Hall.
The January, 2006 production at Stage Center in downtown Oklahoma City was The Taming of the Shrew. The 2006 summer season productions at UCO’s Plunkett Park were Two Gentlemen of Verona, Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew. In December, A Christmas Carol was performed at Mitchell Hall on the UCO campus with tours to Lindsay, WOSU in Altus, and the Gaillardia and River Oaks country clubs.
Rising from the Ashes and Finding a New Home
The two fires had been devastating to Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. The organization had used up most of its savings, and its audiences at UCO had dropped in half from the audiences at Hafer Park. Led by board president David Holt (a former child actor with the company), the organization began considering options beyond rebuilding in Edmond.
In 1985, it would have made little sense to stage Shakespeare in downtown Oklahoma City, but the intervening years had represented a renaissance in the city’s history. Downtown Oklahoma City was now a thriving destination, and OSP recognized that perhaps it was time to make the heart of the community its new permanent home.
In 2006, OSP entered negotiations with the City of Oklahoma City and the Myriad Gardens Foundation, led by Jim Tolbert, to relocate to the Myriad Botanical Gardens Water Stage in downtown Oklahoma City. In December, the organization announced that in conjunction with a renovation of the Water Stage, it would relocate its summer seasons there. Additionally, OSP relocated its administrative offices from Edmond to Stage Center.
The January, 2007 production at Stage Center was The Tempest. In February, in recognition of its newfound home downtown, OSP held a fundraiser at the Skirvin Hilton in the restored Venetian Room the very first Friday after the hotel’s long-awaited reopening.
OSP’s summer 2007 inaugural productions in the Myriad Botanical Gardens were A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cyrano de Bergerac and Macbeth. The 2007 productions were staged in repertory, with the final weekend of the season featuring all three shows. The 2007 summer season was a huge success, with increased attendance and enormous support from the Oklahoma City artistic and business communities.
In November of 2007, OSP staged the official Centennial production of The Grapes of Wrath at Stage Center, in commemoration of Oklahoma’s centennial as a state.
Also that winter, A Christmas Carol toured and performed at Pegasus Theatre on the UCO campus in Edmond. The Scarlet Letter was the January, 2008 production at Stage Center.
The relocation to downtown Oklahoma City brought a new alliance with Oklahoma City University, which began in 2008. In 2008, OSP started the Jack O’Meara Actors Hall of Fame to recognize the many actors who have meant so much to OSP’s evolution.
The 2008 summer season productions were Much Ado About Nothing, The Three Musketeers and Richard III, again performed in repertory as in 2007. A Christmas Carol was again presented that winter, this time as a touring production only.
OSP staged Julius Caesar at Stage Center in January of 2009.
In 2009, OSP staged its 25th Anniversary season at the Myriad Gardens with productions of As You Like It, Shaw’s Misalliance, Hamlet and Twelfth Night. A special gala performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at the Civic Center Music Hall capped the celebration.
A Flood, a Renovation, and a Bright Future
In the spring of 2010, as part of its ever-growing alliance, OSP and Oklahoma City University co-produced a production of Romeo and Juliet at the University. This marked the end of OSP’s long tradition of staging one show at Stage Center every winter.
In June of 2010, a flash flood all but destroyed the interior of Oklahoma City’s Stage Center, including OSP’s office. Allied Arts arranged for a temporary office, and OSP eventually relocated to the Fred Jones building on Main Street in west downtown Oklahoma City.


History - Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park

[Just the facts]

The Crystal Bridge and Myriad Botanical Gardens don't make money. Neither does the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Should we tear them all down? Public Libraries? The Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum at OU? Admission is free. I sincerely doubt that the attractions at Riversport make profit, especially compared to what it took to build them.

The idea that the litmus test for what exists in a city is whether or not it makes money for someone is laughable, and ridiculous. If that were the case, what an absolutely horrible place that would be to live in.

The problem is that all those non-profit buildings have things for people to do inside them. If Stage Center was fixed up who would use it? They asked the Arts community in OKC and all of them said, "Count us out". Is it supposed to just be a very expensive sculpture?

On the other hand, I'll bet the those places you listed could come up with a study that say they contribute millions to the local economy.

On edit - wouldn't you know it....

http://www.arts.ok.gov/pdf/about_us/...FullReport.pdf

The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations
in Oklahoma

This study provides compelling new evidence that the nonprofit arts and culture are a significant
industry in the State of Oklahoma—one that generates $314.8 million in local economic activity.
This spending–$176.5 million by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and an additional $138.3
million in event-related spending by their audiences—supports 10,156 full-time equivalent jobs,
generates $211 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $29.4 million in local and
state government revenue. This economic impact study sends a strong signal that when we support the
arts, we not only enhance our quality of life, but we also invest in the State of Oklahoma’s economic
well-being.

[Spartan]

There should have been a fourth option; "don't tear it down yet, use denial of a demolition permit to force a different level of redevelopment of that location."

On this board THAT is what is driving the no votes and skewing the numbers. There are few actual advocates of preservation for the sake of preservation here.

Yeah we should re-do this poll. I'm just surprised 61 people could support such a strongly and negatively worded "tear it down" statement

[shawnw]

Feel free. I was looking for a specific angle.

[zookeeper]

The problem is that all those non-profit buildings have things for people to do inside them. If Stage Center was fixed up who would use it? They asked the Arts community in OKC and all of them said, "Count us out". Is it supposed to just be a very expensive sculpture?

On the other hand, I'll bet the those places you listed could come up with a study that say they contribute millions to the local economy.

On edit - wouldn't you know it....

http://www.arts.ok.gov/pdf/about_us/...FullReport.pdf

You, of all people, should be sick of hearing "count us out." When people don't understand you, it's frustrating. First of all, not everyone said, "Count us out." This is why I keep talking about imagination and possibilities. I do not have the answers to all the questions. I only know the answer to one question and I believe that this structure deserves to stand for many more years and serve in a capacity we maybe haven't even thought of yet.

If anyone hasn't seen the film with John Johansen explaining his thought process on the theater, please go back a few posts and watch it. It's only ten minutes and I think sometimes people learn to appreciate things when they understand its genesis. Clearly, there's no turning around several here, but even they should see the short explanation concerning the "hamster tubes and boxes." It's a must-see ten minutes if you really want to understand this building. For better or worse.