news-record.com

GREENSBORO - The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra seeks a better concert hall.

The Community Theatre of Greensboro wants a performance space of its own.

Some touring artists and Broadway shows bypass the city for better places in bigger markets.

Their problems could be solved, arts advocates say, with an amenity sorely needed: more suitable venues.

Some are too small or too big. Or too old. Or unable to handle the basic needs of some performances.

"We are behind the times," said Lisa Crawford, president of the Greensboro Symphony. "We are not preparing for the future, for the growth of our city, to try to draw people to this community."

Greensboro offers multiple halls for plays, music and dance - from small venues such as the new 80-seat UpStage Cabaret above Triad Stage to the 23,500-seat Greensboro Coliseum arena.

But it falls short in between - on updated venues that can hold roughly 400 to 1,000-plus, arts advocates say.

Some have favored a new performing arts center downtown. Others say that renovating 2,400-seat War Memorial Auditorium in the coliseum complex would solve the problem.

Still, many just don't see the need.

In recent years, the issue has been studied and debated - but little has changed.

In 2001, one plan called for a performing arts center downtown.

In 2004, a consultant recommended a new concert hall with roughly 1,500 seats at UNCG, to be used by its School of Music and community music groups. But the idea stalled for lack of support.

A proposed $50 million retrofit of aging War Memorial, which hosts symphony concerts, touring artists and Broadway shows, was killed by voters in November.

And now community-development group Action Greensboro will consider whether to pay for a study and long-term plan that looks at all city performing arts facilities - sometime in the next 3 to 5 years.

"Long-term planning is difficult to do right now with the current economic environment," said April Harris, Action Greensboro's executive director.

Meanwhile, some performers struggle to find a well-suited place to play.

The most recently updated space is UNCG's 1,621-seat Aycock Auditorium, which has reopened after a $19 million renovation. But like venues at other schools, it's often booked with university activities.

When the Eastern Music Festival sought space for its summer Fringe concerts, it turned to 300-seat Triad Stage, which takes a brief break from its plays.

Other than Triad Stage, "you don't really have a public space for 250 to 500 seats ... that allows people to have beer or wine and see a show," said Richard Emmett, who booked Fringe concerts.

Sometimes, when shows can't find a suitable venue, they simply go elsewhere.

Broadway shows "Wicked" and "The Color Purple" will be playing at the new Durham Performing Arts Center - but not here.

Matt Brown, who oversees the city-owned Greensboro Coliseum complex, said War Memorial didn't meet their technical needs.

Greensboro concert promoter John Fields said some touring artists bypass the city mainly because it's a smaller market than Charlotte and Raleigh. Still, if the city had a new venue that met an artist's needs, "It could be a reason to stop here," Fields said.

Susan Schwartz, Action Greensboro's president, thinks the first priority should be renovations at War Memorial.

"I don't see anyone in the next two years building a performing arts center downtown and looking after it," Schwartz said. "Even in good times, it was hard to find resources for doing that."

Jim Melvin, president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation that helped create Action Greensboro, agrees.

"When you think about how much (the coliseum complex) has enriched our community, economically and culturally, you can't put a price tag on it," Melvin said. "Without it, we would be just a big country town."

Meanwhile, two nonprofit organizations, Community Theatre of Greensboro and the Carolina Theatre, pursue their own plans.

In its 60-year history, Community Theatre never had its own performance space. It has presented plays at the Carolina Theatre, the 161-seat downtown Broach Theatre, the Guilford County courthouse - even the downtown Masonic Temple.

Now Community Theatre has an option to buy the temple, an annex and parking for $2 million.

The Carolina Theatre's new CEO, former mayor Keith Holliday, wants major updates done to the 81-year-old downtown space while preserving its character.

Among possible renovations for the 1,100-seat venue: an expanded stage to hold a large orchestra, more seats, better light and sound systems and a hydraulic system in the orchestra pit.

He hopes to raise money by next summer to hire a consultant to create that plan.

"Could the Carolina Theatre be renovated and flexible enough to solve everybody's needs?" Holliday said. "I think that's a possibility."

The Greensboro Symphony has found a partial solution to its venue dilemma.

Saturday night, it played a Pops concert of "James Bond" movie music not at War Memorial, but at Westover Church.

That's right, the mega-church on Muirs Chapel Road.

There, audiences can sit in upholstered seats for 2,850, watch musicians on large projection screens - and park for free.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com