March 29, 2016
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Maybe you love the theatre. Maybe you’ve been looking for a way to honor a loved one.
As part of a refurbishing and freshening of Yardley Hall and Polsky Theatre, Johnson County Community College invites you to take advantage of a naming opportunity. For a donation of $650, your name or the name of someone special to you can be engraved on a plaque on the back of a theatre seat. Call (913) 469-3835 for more information or to donate by phone, or mail a check, payable to JCCC Foundation, to 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210. Additional information is available online and donations also may be made online.
“It’s a very personal way to support the theatres,” said Emily Behrmann, general manager of the Performing Arts Series at JCCC. “When the Carlsen Center opened in 1990, we missed the opportunity so inviting our patrons to name a seat today seems an appropriate way to close the yearlong celebration of our 25th anniversary season.”
The goal of the “Take A Seat” campaign is to sell at least 100 seats at $650 apiece. The proceeds would go toward programming. All of the seats would be in Yardley Hall center orchestra near the stage unless a donor requests a different seat location. Placing a name on a seat will not mean that you could sit in that seat every time you go to a show.
Greg Musil, chairman of the JCCC Board of Trustees, says he is excited about the naming opportunity.
“I plan to purchase a seat in honor of my daughters and niece and nephew, all of whom received a great education at our college, including in arts and culture,” Musil said. “This is a lasting way of remembering the influence of JCCC on my family.”
The project is estimated to cost $1.6 million. It will include painting, new house acoustic curtains and carpeting not only in the theatres but in the lobby and backstage areas, including six dressing rooms and the Green Room, where artists wait before going onstage for their performance. The 1,300 seats in Yardley will be recovered; not pulled out for new ones. Polsky’s 420 seats are fine and do not need any work, Behrmann said.
The board of trustees is expected to review bids for the project at its April meeting. Work should begin in late May and wrap up by the first of September.
Donations may be a one-time payment or split into recurring payments. Make a contribution by Aug. 15 and your nameplate will be engraved, installed and on view by the first show of the fall season.
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