Upgrades at UI Hartung Theater

Gazette Intern

The Idaho Repertory Theatre’s summer season has been cut short this year due to construction projects in the University of Idaho’s Hartung Theater. The theater’s rigging system, as well as its stage and the flooring, are all being remodeled.

“We were due for updates,” said Alexiss Turner, marketing director for the IRT. She explained that the theater had not been modified since it was constructed in 1973, almost forty years ago.

Construction began May 21 and is scheduled to finish around July 20.

The campus project cut down the theater’s normal production run which has been a part of the summer season’s entertainment in this area for years.

Although they could not put together their usual group of three to four summer productions, the IRT will perform Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, a play about a small, eclectic group of students who enroll in a six week adult acting class.

Rehearsals will begin just a couple of days after construction ends, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16-18 and 23-25. Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. will be Aug. 19 and 26.

Improvements for Hartung have been planned for some time. The actual work was scheduled for this summer in order to allow UI students regular use of their theater during the school year.

Replacing the rigging will be the major part of the project. This includes the systems of weights and counterweights that control the lighting and the movement of props, scenery and even people across the stage. A new mechanism for adjusting the stage size for different productions will also be installed.

The old rigging could hold 5,400 pounds, and the new should be able to support around 7,000 pounds. That is expected to allow a little more creativity and freedom for future productions.

Turner said some of the original cast iron parts of the rigging will be replaced with steel parts.

The project hasn’t brought everything to a halt this summer for IRT. In June youngsters from kindergarten to ninth grade had the opportunity to learn more about theater production with the University of Idaho in IRT sponsored programs taught by graduate students. At the end of each weekly session, the students displayed what they had learned or created.

One of the highlights of the IRT Youth program is their annual summer production. This year the IRTY will present Joseph Robinette’s adaptation of Charlotte’s Web, with 21 local kids in the cast. Director is UI graduate student Zac Curtis.

The first performance will be July 12 at East City Park, part of a collaboration with Moscow’s Children of Entertainment series. Performances on July 13 and 14 will be at the Hartung Theater Outdoor Stage. All performances will begin at 6 p.m. and are free to the public.