Cue the new lights — Valencia High School’s auditorium is getting upgraded for the first time since the school’s establishment in 1994. The 2024 William S. Hart Union High School District renovations for the school year include revamping the 30-year-old space.
Construction began in May and will end in January, according to Michael Otavka, director of facilities, planning and construction for the Hart district. “What we’re doing there is we’re just replacing equipment, seats and giving it a facelift inside with new paint, new floor coverings. So it’ll get all new seats.
It will get new equipment, [such as] lighting and audio equipment,” Otavka said. “We’re not changing the size [of the space, and] we’re not moving walls or ceilings or anything. All of that stays the same.
” According to Otavka, the goal is to operate the auditorium as a functioning space that exhibits new technology. Valencia theater teacher Stephen Whelan, who has worked at the high school for nearly 25 years, has reflected on the auditorium’s lifespan throughout the years. “When I came, the theater looked relatively well kept, and it was in really good shape,” Whelan said.
“Through the years, with a lot of wear and tear, and with a lot of good reasons like using the theater space for classroom and all kinds of different shows, including a Holocaust survivor coming to speak and politicians showing up, it’s been used for all kinds of wonderful educational purposes. I’m very excited to see it get renovated the way that it is.” When Whelan was hired in 2000, the state of California did not have a budget for theaters, resulting in the space initially being a lecture hall.
“Because of that, there are white walls, there are clocks on the walls, and there’s other strange things you wouldn’t normally see in a theater,” Whelan said. “We don’t have a fly space, which means we don’t have the ability to bring set pieces from above the ceiling and down, and we don’t have a lot of room in the wings.” While the space will not be expanded, the capacity of creating will.
“They got rid of all the seats, they pulled up all the old tile, and now they’re doing electrical circuitry. I really want to see what they do with a new projector, because we haven’t had a working projector probably for the last three years,” Whelan said. “They’re going to hang it above the stage .
.. so we’re going to be able to manipulate the image a little more by having not one, but two places where it can project on the stage.
” Along with the projector, the two dressing rooms in the back, which have been worn out throughout the years, will be renovated, as well as the sound and lighting equipment that will be computerized. “This has been a long time coming. [Right now], we don’t have a space, so we’re relying on Canyon High School.
They’re hosting us for our Improvathon. It’s $5 for all participants, and we’re going to split the gate. We are also doing a restoration French comedy by Molière called ‘Tartuffe,’ and that’s going to be at Canyon from Nov.
5 to the 8th,” Whelan said. In the meantime, Whelan and his students welcome the new school year by rehearsing in an open classroom next to his. “They took out all the desks, and it’s probably 20 feet by 20 feet.
I could definitely sense that [the students] feel a bit out of place, but we [will] adapt. I am enticing them with, ‘Hey, just stick around, and we’re going to get that theater back and it’s going to be more beautiful than ever,’” Whelan said. As for what Whelan would like the community to know, it all stems from the importance of the arts.
“I want them to know that the arts are thriving in the William S. Hart Union School District. I’m very excited to get our theater back, and to be in the same place as all these other wonderful theater programs in the Hart district,” Whelan said.
“We’re looking forward to thriving, and having a great, beautiful space to work in.”.
