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Parke Players, Inc |
Ritz Theater
The stage area at the Ritz Theater has undergone some changes over the last ninety years that include the removal and replacement of the original stage house fly loft and the construction of a permanent 30 x 20 foot screen on the back side of the proscenium arch during the 1937 cinema remodeling. There was evidence that there had been a previous smaller screen stretched on a frame during the 1929 cinema fitting. When the Rockville Chamber Of Commerce purchased the theater in 1969, the stage was pretty much a storage area filled with discarded fixtures and old audio components . Everything was covered with the dust of decades. Since one of the principle reasons that the Chamber Of Commerce had purchased the theater was to restore the stage for use in living theater, the screen made of porous panels was torn out and replaced with the first of the two retractable glass bead projection screens to be installed. The volunteers cleaned out the stage area and emptied the dressing rooms of the damaged seating and carpeting that had collected over the years. The volunteers mopped and cleaned for a week before the painting of some of the block walls commenced. The stage was much more shallow than it is now since the apron over the orchestra pit had not yet been built. The footlights consisted of a series of porcelain lamp sockets mounted in a steel trough recessed in the stage lip and were in a state of disrepair. The lights were restored somewhat and the little stairwells leading up to either side of the stage from the house floor were removed. In 1969, there was not even a suggestion of stage lighting since the original wooden stage house had become weathered and removed in the1940's. The stage originally had a forty foot ceiling to accommodate the fly system to which the stage lighting grid was attached. Since the stage was basically dead or at least in a deep sleep, there was no provision for stage lighting when the current 20 foot ceiling / roof was constructed. During the 1969 reawakening, the stage was fitted with crude commercial flood lighting for the first year or two and control was an even more crude series of residential toggle switches mounted on plywood in the stage right wing area. Bring on Spanky, Alfalfa and Petey. The 30 x 20 foot proscenium curtain set installed in the 1940's was made of a translucent sheer fabric hanging on a motorized track. The Chamber Of Commerce had the control for the curtain motor bridged to work from either the projection booth or the new stage lighting control panel in order to open and close the curtain for stage productions. The stage end control switch had a stop position while the projection booth control simply opened or closed the curtain using the motor's internal cam assembly to automatically observe the open and close limits. Today the new 22 x 30 foot Da-Lite glass bead screen hangs in front of the curtain and automatically drops to a preset position before the presentation of every film. This screen was installed in January of 2001 and replaces the manually operated model of virtually the same size that was installed behind the proscenium curtain in 1969. That screen spent 95% of its time in the down position and became dingy and otherwise soiled within the first couple of years due to the misguided practice of cleaning the old theater floor with a leaf blower. The 1969 Covered Bridge Festival entertainment was presented on the newly revived stage as "A Band Wagon Tour Of Parke County" written and directed by festival organizer Juliet Snowden. There was no offering for the annual Parke County Maple Fair the following spring but a sequel to "A Band Wagon Tour Of Parke County" played to enthusiastic crowds at the Ritz Theater on the Saturday nights during the 1970 Covered Bridge Festival. During the 1971 Maple Fair, the Parke County Chorus presented a program of their own creation at the Ritz . Maple Sugar Time was presented on both of the Maple Fair Saturday nights that spring and just a few weeks later, Parke Players was officially formed. The newly formed company presented their first production, "Ten Nights In a Barroom " during the 1971 Covered Bridge Festival that October. Parke Players formed a partnership with the Rockville Chamber Of Commerce that funded most of the improvements to follow. A detailed description of the improvements to the theater implemented by Parke Players over the years can be found on the Parke Players history page. In late 1971, the first significant improvement to the stage was the installation of a series of "T" bars made of galvanized pipe in the ceiling to serve as a grid for the first generation of stage lighting purchased in 1972. In 1974, scenery lofts were built over the rooms on either side of the stage to accommodate the scenery flats and major props. The theater's production facility has been greatly improved by the creation of two eighty foot by eight foot lofts in the east and west second floor attic spaces. Neither were originally suitable as attic space since they had none of the amenities, like flooring, or lights. Just rafters and joists and an astounding amount of dust. In 1992, a few things were being stored in the spaces when a Fire Marshall found a can of mimeograph fluid, with all of the charm and properties of ether, stashed in one of them by the Chamber Of Commerce staff. "Nothing can be stored in these spaces without fire resistant drywall and appropriate flooring " rebuked the shocked public servant. In 1993, the east attic space was finished to the specifications of the fire code and a new wardrobe loft was created. In 2002, Parke Players hired a contractor to do basically the same thing with the entire length of the west attic space. This new loft now houses the entire hand property inventory and stage lighting dimmer bay. To keep the memory of the unfinished space alive, we still have a massive "attic" space over the house that is still much as it always has been. THE RITZ PRODUCTION FACILITY
CINEMA PRODUCTION
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