Civic Theatre in spotlight of upcoming Lafayette Theater renovations

Civic will be the main tenant of the city-owned former movie theater at Sixth and Main. A Q&A with director Raquel Lopez about what that will mean for Civic.

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CIVIC THEATRE IN SPOTLIGHT OF NEW LAFAYETTE THEATER RENOVATIONS

As theater design work continues at the corner of Sixth and Main streets, a new partnership is brewing between the city and Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette that would make the community theater the primary and permanent residents of the art-deco Lafayette Theater.

Under the arrangement, Lafayette will still own the former movie theater it bought in 2019 for $290,000 and took over management in 2020. Long Center would continue to book the Lafayette Theater, built in 1938. And Civic Theatre would step in and use the stage and what is projected to be a 500-seat venue for main stage productions, youth theater camps and more, while still working with its 155-seat home base, the Historic Monon Depot, two blocks away on North Fifth Street.

Raquel Lopez, producing artistic director at Civic Theatre, says the city’s plans to renovate the Lafayette Theater at Sixth and Main and make Civic a permanent tenant will be a game-changer for the community theater and for downtown. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Saturday night, during Civic Theatre’s reveal of the 2024-25 season, producing artistic director Raquel Lopez plans to unveil the Lafayette Theater news, too.

“It’s out there, and a lot of people know,” Lopez said. “But we’re so excited to get this out to everyone.”

The city’s redevelopment commission has been funding a design study with engineering firm Cordogan Clark since 2023 to consider the possibilities – and the constraints – of fitting lighting, backstage spaces and flexible seating schemes to accommodate a community theater as the main tenant.

Mayor Tony Roswarski has touted the city’s purchase of the Lafayette – after several private attempts to retrofit and preserve a single-screen movie theater that closed in 1990 – as part of a three-L approach to city-supported entertainment options. The other two L’s: the Long Center, a 1,150-seat former movie theater Lafayette has owned at 111 N. Sixth St., and the rebuilt Loeb Stadium in Columbian Park.

After considering expanding the project into a neighboring building on Main Street, Roswarski told redevelopment commission members late last year that the city was comfortable with sticking with the Lafayette Theater’s footprint and would design around that.

Those plans are expected in late 2024, with construction coming in 2025, according to information shared with the redevelopment commission.

Lopez said she expects Civic won’t move in until 2027 or so.

“And we’re going to need every bit of those three years to get ready,” Lopez said. “We’re already running on this.”

Question: How did this start for you? How did Civic enter the picture at the Lafayette Theater?