It's hard to imagine summer in Grand Forks without Summer Performing Arts, now in its 23rd season, a program that brings music, drama and theater to schoolchildren, and one that Friday night will open its first of three major stage productions.
"Come Together" is the name of the all-girl revue to be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Empire Arts Center.
It will be followed by the musicals "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" Monday through Thursday at Central High School Auditorium and "Guys and Dolls" July 17-22 at Red River High School theater.
By year 25, SPA may have new digs that could allow it to serve more children and could affect the way it stages and presents its shows, SPA executive director Dean Opp said.
SPA is a program of the Grand Forks Public Schools, and the School Board hired an architect to design a new theater/office addition to Red River High School, attached to the current music department, at a proposed cost of $8.1 million to $8.5 million.
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At Central High School, a $2 million renovation project has been proposed to the auditorium that would restore the old theater balcony seating. Plans there are not as cut and dried as those at Red River. There's talk of adding more gym space and moving the music department closer to the theater.
Opp said those building bans would give SPA an opportunity to expand and serve more students. SPA's elementary school program now limits registration. Classes and workshops for the youngest SPA participants last two weeks.
"We had just shy of 500 (elementary) kids this summer," Opp said. "We had record enrollment. We did have a bulk of our kids at Red River High School between the Rider Room and theater." Other groups met at Central, and Phoenix and Lake Agassiz elementary schools.
Middle-school-age SPA participants, about 150 this summer, met mornings in June at South Middle School and presented a show there at the end of the month.
The high school program is split between Red River and Central high schools and the Empire Arts Center. SPA also has rented the Chester Fritz for some past performances.
For years, the three high school shows have been in three different theaters because the sets had to be built and torn down. The new theater would be designed with a loft so that sets could fly in and fly out. That would mean SPA could schedule one show the first three days of the week, and another show the next three days of the week, Opp said.
"When we're working on preparation and rehearsal, that's the teaching time," he said. "One of the biggest bonuses for us would be housing all of the high school students under one roof because there would be a couple of stages that could be worked on at the same time."
Even if performances were in different buildings, the students would work in the same building and at the end of the day could show each other what they'd been doing.
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"That's what I'm most excited about," Opp said.
The "Come Together" revue Friday and Saturday will be presented by a cast of freshman girls. For years, SPA has enrolled more girls than boys, which meant that many girls were relegated to minor roles or the chorus. The girls revue gives those young women their own show to shine.
The "Charlie Brown" cast is primarily ninth- and 10th-graders. "Guys and Dolls," directed by Connie Sherwood and others, will be staged by the oldest students in the SPA program, 11th- and 12-graders.
Meanwhile, the architects hired by the school district will present their building and renovation plans to the School Board at its 6 p.m. meeting Monday in the Grand Forks Education Center.
Reach Tobin at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 134; or send e-mail to ptobin@gfherald.com .
