Students, teachers excited about new performing arts center

Jun. 8—NEOSHO, Mo. — Meg Saffer and Claire Visnovske are already planning for a season full of big productions.

Once a new performing arts center is completed and opened to students, the Neosho High School theater teachers said the theater department will announce a full season of shows that makes use of the new space.

Band Director Dan Duffield said his students also can't wait — the band program, which has been growing over the last few years, will be able to grow even more, yet students will be able to rehearse in the same classroom and store their instruments more conveniently.

And choir teacher Melanie Soule said the school can upgrade in the show choir circuit to running contests — a big draw for a competitive activity.

"We have an amazing, big, strong program of fine arts," Soule said Tuesday at a naming ceremony for the performing arts center. "At least a third of the school is involved in some way, with choir, band or theater. The kids have worked hard regardless of what we have, but having this ... allows us to offer opportunities our kids haven't had before."

Tuesday's ceremony marked the first formal celebration of the center's construction. Work began in the summer of 2021, but the district was unable to host a groundbreaking ceremony at the time.

The event was held to honor donors who made contributions for naming rights. With a $1 million pledge, Freeman Health System was named as the center's legacy donor; the center will bear its name.

The center's atrium will be named for Community Bank and Trust — part of the project calls for a redesign of lobby space to enable hosting of simultaneous events. The orchestra pit will be named for the Slinkard family.

The 42,000-square-foot Freeman Health System Performing Arts Center is the centerpiece item in a series of construction projects that voters approved in 2020 with a 39-cent levy increase. When completed, it will offer a 1,500-seat auditorium with orchestra pit, acoustic treatments, fly loft, dressing rooms and a loading area, as well as classrooms for performing arts students.

During the ceremony, Superintendent Jim Cummins thanked community members who supported the center as well as district officials who developed the proposal and volunteers who campaigned in favor of the issue.

"If they had not had the boldness to go to the community, with a ballot issue of a magnitude we had never had before, we wouldn't have this," Cummins said. "We knew this was a community-defining ask."

The project, which extends the high school's footprint by 36,130 square feet, also calls for renovating existing space at the school's north end. Expected to cost about $20 million, construction is expected to be completed in spring 2023.

Other projects from the 2020 levy increase that are either completed or close to completion include the La-Z-Boy End Zone Facility and storm shelters at three other schools in the district. Once the performing arts center is completed, the final projects — a restroom and locker room expansion for the high school gymnasium and conversion of the old auditorium into a choir classroom — can begin.

Expansion

In addition to serving students, the arts center is hoped to draw economic activity. The district designed it to be big and modern enough to draw small touring events in addition to hosting plays, musicals and concerts performed by Neosho students.

Students and teachers are already excited about the possibilities. Senior Mira Levernz said the additional space in the theater means the productions can get bigger without tripping her up.

"It is really hard to have big set pieces stored in the wings when they don't have much space," Levernz said. "When I'm acting, shimmying around obstacles backstage is not very fun."

Saffer and Visnovske, the theater teachers, say the expanded space of the stage and the space around it and above it mean more students can get involved with productions. A bigger cast and a bigger crew mean they can build more intricate sets, and the Slinkard Family Orchestra Pit can hold a live orchestra — something that can't be done in the school's current 300-seat auditorium.

"Some of our limitations are sets that don't change throughout the show," Visnovske said. "We don't have the wing space to move them in during a show. With this new center, there is enough space to fly things in and have things sitting in the wings. We can have big changeovers and have more students working offstage."

The project also calls for additional classrooms, something that Duffield's band programs will appreciate. The band room is too small for the entire band, requiring division into two classrooms, he said. Additionally, the main band room is so small that the ceiling tiles have been removed in order to mitigate excessive noise.

But the biggest draw will be the chance to perform on a stage, he said.

"The only opportunity they have to perform on a stage is when we go to a contest," Duffield said. "They are excited to have access to a stage daily and have it regularly for performances. I think the community will appreciate their performances more too."

Once the project is completed, the current auditorium will be transformed into a new classroom space for the school's choral programs.

Visnovske said that the new equipment and resources will help better prepare students who plan continuing work in the theater, live event production or the TV and movie industries by giving them access to tools they are likely to see in those places.

Levernz hopes that, if she gets the chance to take that stage at the end of her senior year, it won't be the last time. While she doesn't plan on pursuing a theater career, she is excited about participating in community theater and hopes the new center encourages the creation of a local theater group.

"This is something I want to keep doing for the rest of my life," Levernz said. "I think this will be more of what most spaces will be like and that give more opportunities for the community as a whole rather than just high school shows. Now there is a chance for community theater to happen here."

Follow Digital Editor Joe Hadsall on Twitter at @JoeHadsall.