Eugene’s Very Little Theater is pleased to receive a $ 200,000 building grant

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Jessica Ruth Baker, Development and Marketing Coordinator for the Very Little Theater, left, and volunteer Martha Greaney join a crew working to undress the theater interior as part of a major remodel that will last through 2021.

Eugene’s Very Little Theater recently announced that it has received a $ 200,000 building grant from the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust.

“We are over the moon, especially when we are in the critical phase of the rebuild,” said Jessica Ruth Baker, VLT development and marketing coordinator, in a statement. “We are now in the home stretch!”

The Murdock Trust, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, has granted more than $ 1 billion to nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest in support of “transformational ideas”.

The VLT is still waiting for approval, but the members are aiming to break the ground in mid-June. With the Murdock Scholarship, the oldest theater in the region will achieve nearly three-quarters of its project goal of 1.65 million US dollars. Once the theater is ready (and COVID-19 conditions allow the shows to return), the 1950s theater will have an improved and redesigned environment for stage performances. The target date is December, but that depends on how the construction works.

“It’s important for us to try a stage production before the end of the year as we’ve had continuous productions on our stages every year since 1929 (One Slight Hitch closed in early February 2020),” Baker said in an email.

With remodeling plans in the foreground for inspiration, volunteers are tearing out old carpets as part of a major remodel at Eugene's Very Little Theater that will last through 2021.

The major renovation will modernize the 70-year-old theater on Hilyard Street, including wider, more comfortable new seats. updated seating under the Disabled Americans Act; an extended stage; and motorized set rigging.

At the moment the VLT’s theater temple is just an empty shell. Baker said three to five volunteers are still working about 15 hours a week ripping out old wires running through lighting fixtures and pulling out recently stored ephemera from under the stage.

From “Raise the Roof!” Baker and her volunteer fundraising team have raised more than $ 1 million and are seeking donations from community customers to help raise the final $ 400,000.

“Your commitment to VLT will be updated when you see the new and improved VLT,” said Karen Scheeland, CEO of VLT, in the press release.

Donations can be made online at thevlt.com/donate.html.

Volunteers are removing rubble from the Very Little Theater in Eugene in preparation for a major remodel that will last through 2021.

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