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& Owosso Area Amphitheater Association |
CURRENT OFFICERS Chairman Doug Cornell Vice-Chair Jack Johnson Secretary Phil Hathaway Treasurer Roger Squiers Trustees Phil Heavilin Ron Brooks Jim Yankee Vicki Yankee Paul Heimnick Sue Heimnick Brenda McNamara T Bush L Schneider SummerPraise Concert Schedule Map to Amphitheater Concert Photo Gallery Contact Us Local Musician Opportunity |
The Don and Metta Mitchell Performing Arts Center and the Owosso Area Amphitheater Performing Arts Association In 1969, the City of Owosso adopted a Master Plan that featured an amphitheater facility where the present Middle School Cafeteria is located next to the Heritage Footbridge. The plan projected the demolition of the school that stands to this day. In 1985, after the Heritage Footbridge was constructed to connect Curwood Castle Park and the downtown, a committee was formed to initiate ideas on expanding the park's cultural and historic themes. Members of the Owosso Historical Commission, together with Phil Hathaway, Community Development Diredctor for the City of Owosso, became the committee for creating a plan. The comprehensive park plan was prepared and published in May of 1986 and incorporated into the 1986 City Master Plan for Parks and Recreation. The plan established an amphitheater at the northeast corner of the Middle School play field grounds north of the school in what used to be a flooding basin for the grain mill. The theater would be built on the valley wall facing the river so as to stay out of the flood plain and out of the play field, but stay proximate to the Park and river. The Middle School play field would act as an audience area. A designe process with an architect began in 1986 with input from the City, the Schools and the Historical Commission. Gerry Collamer and Walt Taylor were key community leaders in sustaining the idea through the rough waters of change. The final design featured a stage with a capacity for a 90 piece orchestra with an audience area having a capacity for 5,000 persons. There would be a rehearsal area, in the rear of the building together with performer facilities. The theater has a turret on its north wall to reflect the Curwood Castle turrets across the river. A prospectus for the theater and its operation was prepared and anticipation of funding sources and identifying an organization to provide programming. Two existing organizations in the arts, the Shiawassee Arts Council and the Owosso Community Players, considered expanding their roles for this purpose but eventually concluded that the amphitheater strayed from their own missions. Another route was pursued and is explained later in this history. After two years of negotiation with the Owosso Public Schools, the City of Owosso acquired the rights for a long term lease on the property in December of 1989 to construct the theater and maintain the facilities and grounds during the summer. Grants and philanthropic funds were sought during Mayor Chris Mitchell's term in office on the City Council. Bill Mitchell, unrelated to the Mayor, agreed to place $75,000 in seed money for the new facility in honor of his mother and father for whom the theater is named. An additional pool of funds was gathered from a Mitchell challenge grant to other philanthropists in town (it raised $45,000), the State of Michigan's Equity fund program that provided two successive years of funding for $100,000 (with gratitude to Representative Buz Spaniola who spearheaded the state involvement) and the City's Block Grant fund that completed the monies required for the $400,000 facility and grounds improvement. Construction began in December 1989 and by summer of 1990, Phase II, the superstructure was underway. Phase III began in March of 1991 with many site improvements and theater finishing items (McLaren Plumbing provided the bathrooms and Tom Manke built the interior rooms). John Archer lead the Builder's Association work to build the two stairways. A third of the theater's cost is below ground to compensate for the poor glacial earth material in this area. A caisson drill was imported from Chicago (the same equipment used for the construction of the Sears Tower) to place 12 25-foot deep concrete piers (caissons) in 5 feet of shale. Consequently budget cutbacks for the superstructure were required and to this day work in the turret area, an acoustical ceiling system, stage security screen rear stage door delivery ramp remains unfinished. Still the majestic theater and landscaped ground offer an aesthetic background for the musical experience. B. THE PERFORMING ARTS ASSOCIATION. The work of the Historical Commission's sub-committee was not finished. An organizational body had to evolve from nothing to become a fully operational entity for the summer of 1991. With assistance from attorney Mark VanEpps and Gerry Collamer, a select group of individuals were gathered to form the operational work of amphitheater programs. With organizational assistance from Threse Martin, Owosso City Clerk, and Phil Hathaway, the asselbled citizens became incorporated in February, 1990 as the Owosso Area Amphitheater Performing Arts Association, Inc. The original members were:
The first amphitheater season in 1991 had eight concerts with an operating budget of $8,970. Capital equipment expenses totaled $2,000 and insurance was $1,090. The performances were as varied as they are today and included:
More work will be done with this history including an entire list of programs from the beginning season of 1991 through the present. With this heritage it is not difficult to strike the imagination and give inspiration to those who volunteer the hours of work that it takes to assure that the show must go on. |