By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

VIDEO: Yates renovations nearly done and on budget

Sep 6, 2018 | 12:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE – While the music of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash fills the Yates Theatre, crews are still busy putting the finishing touches on the renovated facility.

The $13.4-million renovation of the Genevieve E. Yates Memorial Centre is in the home stretch. Jason Freund, recreation services manager for the City of Lethbridge, said while parts of the building, including the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, were still a month or two for completion, the Yates Theatre will be ready to go for the first post-reno event, the New West Theatre’s production of “Million Dollar Quartet” which opens Sept. 12.

WATCH: Renovations to the Yates Theatre are nearly complete, while members of New West Theatre rehearse the first post-renovation production

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“We are still working feverishly on getting the building ready,” Freund told reporters during a tour of the building Thursday, Sept. 6. While some walls and carpets are still being installed, the technical work is done on the sound and lighting. Work was expected to continue through the weekend on the lobby, and some finishing work might not be done until the production wraps up its three-week run.

 “There’s no surface in this entire building, from the second you look at the front of the building until you move through, there’s nothing we haven’t touched,” he added. “Everything has either got a new layer of paint or is brand-new. There’s really not much left of the original theatre other than the skeleton left behind.”

He added the project is on budget.

Architect Elizabeth Songer said one of the biggest changes, and a big challenge, was adding two elevators to the front of the building while preserving the exterior design of the 1960s-era building.

“We worked really hard to keep the exterior glazing that was part of the big, expansive windows from the original design, tried to honour that and honour the original brick,” Songer explained. “And then we instead swept the windows out towards the elevators, to make them not try to blend in but make them complementary to the 1960s design.”

Other changes include raising the catwalk in the theatre and opening it, to create a clear sightline as well as improving the acoustics. Dressing rooms have better lighting, and sound reflectors have a walnut finish. Songer said that’s in keeping with restoring the original 1960s design of the lobby.

“Over the years, especially in the 80s, upgrades had come in and they had oak everywhere – we called it the ‘wild west’ wall. All of the 60s accents of the interiors had been lost,” she said.

Devon Brayne, who plays Johnny Cash in the New West production, said it’s different to be rehearsing while surrounded by construction crews, but it’s exciting to see it coming together.

“I think it’s night and day. I think the aesthetic is very pleasing. They’ve done insurmountable things to improve the sound quality and the lighting instruments,” he said. “With the acoustics and stuff that they’ve been able to implement… we’ve noticed it. A very strong difference on stage for the sound quality that we’re able to play with on stage, let alone what’s happening in the auditorium.”

Songer said it’s been a labour of love.

“I’m beaming. Everybody has worked so hard, and there are so many unseen hours in this to try and bring it back to life and make everybody in the community feel like they’ve got a new and totally improved space.”

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