Published: March 21, 2009 04:51 pm      

A command performance

Watseka couple reopens historic theater

WATSEKA — If you would like to visit a beautifully-restored Art Deco theater and enjoy some quality entertainment and dining while you’re there, just head north on Illinois Route 1 into the heart of downtown Watseka.

A local couple who are passionate about the theater and have an eye for fine architecture and design helped put this small town on the map. They bought the abandoned theater two years ago and restored it to recreate its original style and beauty.

The entrepreneurs are Chuck Gomez, a 30-year resident of Watseka, and his partner Debra Liddell, a retired dentist who moved there from Portland, Ore., seven years ago.

It took Gomez and Liddell only seven months to restore the dilapidated Watseka landmark that was formerly a hub of activity for the town. “Four generations of locals enjoyed watching performances and movies at this theater,” Gomez said. “For years, if you lived in Watseka, you went to the theater for entertainment.”

Gomez formerly taught music at Cissna Park schools, but for the past 15 years he has been the outside special events producer for Columbia College in Chicago. “Being in the theater business taught me how to creatively restore a theater on a limited budget,” he said.

Today the Watseka Theatre is the center for a variety of entertainment, from live music concerts and professional dance troupes to dinner theater, talent shows, special holiday productions, and even opera.

The first-floor area next to the theater, which was formerly a retail store, offers a quaint cafe. This is where theater guests can enjoy hot and cold meals and snacks, as well as beverages from the full-service bar.

The second floor has been converted into the Skidmore Banquet Room, which can be rented for weddings, corporate meetings, family reunions, parties and expositions, such as the recent Expo Ag.

The original theater building was the very first cinema designed by well-known architect Louis Skidmore in 1931. He went on to design many famous buildings, including the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Chase Manhattan Bank Tower and Lever House in New York.

Some of Skidmore’s original designs surprisingly remained intact, including the large window with a sunrise motif on the second-floor landing that leads to the balcony, and several of the original chandeliers.

“We literally breathed life into a trashed, old building that everyone was ready to tear down,” said Gomez, who lives right down the street from the theater. “I’ve dreamed about owning this theater for at least 25 years.”

THE BEGINNING

In the early 1980s, he had made a handshake agreement to purchase the theater from its owner, Don Merrill. To the dismay of Gomez, Merrill died on the very day that the deal was scheduled to close.

Because Merrill died without a will and his family was unaware of the pending deal with Gomez, they hurriedly sold the theater to someone else in order to keep it out of probate court.

The new buyer used the theater as a movie house, but it eventually failed. The building changed hands several times before it ended up in foreclosure.

“By the time Debra and I got our hands on the theater, it had been literally trashed,” Gomez said. “There was 6 feet of water in the basement and dead pigeons everywhere. The walls and ceilings had serious water damage and there were pillars missing. The floor was empty, except for 30 tons of sand that the previous owner had dumped there to level it off.”

For the first several months, Gomez and Liddell hauled dirt and debris out of the building, including tons of steam pipes, water heaters and radiators.

“Most of the people who watched us doing this thought we were crazy,” Gomez said, “but we never had any doubts that we could accomplish our mission. I had a vision for this theater and a plan of how we could restore it to be as historically accurate as possible, without spending too much money.”

“Chuck is a true visionary,” Liddell said. “He would spend hours sitting quietly in the empty theater, just planning and scheming what project he would tackle next. He never put any of his plans on paper, because he kept them all in his head.”

Gomez said, “I can’t say enough good about the cooperation that the people of Watseka showed us, including several contractors and local businesses.”

PRINCESS HONORED

The couple installed 400 wide, comfortable seats with extra padding in the restored theater. “We interviewed many vendors before we found the perfect seats worthy of our guests,” Gomez said.

A Native American motif had been originally used throughout the theater in honor of Princess Watchakee, for whom the town of Watseka was named. Rather than trying to restore several damaged murals in the entranceway, Liddell commissioned local artist Cathy Blunk to paint watercolor scenes on canvas banners that picture the Watchakee Indian princess. The lovely artwork is welcoming to guests as they enter the lobby.

“The banners are so beautiful,” Liddell said. “They are ethereal and abstract, and really just what we wanted to honor the princess who gave her name to Watseka.”

One mural near the stage had been washed away. So the partners commissioned a photograph-on-canvas banner depicting the warrior princess, which artistically camouflages the damaged mural.

Gomez and others spent hours scraping the old paint off the walls in the second-floor banquet room to get down to the natural brick. This area was formerly offices and living quarters.

“People expected us to dry wall over the natural brick,” Gomez said, “but we left it exposed. The naked brick gives the room a lot of character.”

The partners purchased several new columns for the theater proper to replace the missing ones, and they replaced the crowns on the light fixtures. They also rebuilt all the crumbling plaster walls and extended the original 7-foot stage, making it 22 feet deep.

Liddell spent hours restoring the sconces on either sides of the stage, cleaning them and refinishing the brass.

ON THE MEND

They shipped the original 1931 stage curtain to the largest Broadway theater fabric manufacturer in the country — Rosebrand in New York City — asking that they make a facsimile for the Watseka Theatre.

Because she is an excellent seamstress, it was no problem for Liddell to sew a duplicate of the original curtain valance that goes over the proscenium arch. She also removed the Art Deco appliqués and fringe from the valance and re-sewed them after the items were dry cleaned at no charge by a local dry cleaner.

The theater is heated by corn-burning stoves, with backup electrical baseboard heat and air conditioning. “We are the only theater in North America that relies on renewable resources to heat the entire building,” Gomez said.

There are also brand new handicapped-accessible restrooms in the facility, and the theater itself is also fully accessible to everyone.

COMING UP

Upcoming performances at the Watseka Theatre include:

— April 4 — Flynn Irish Dancers (from West Peoria) in concert with guitarist Barry Cloyd, the soloist as well as accompanist, guitarist and story-teller for the group. He is traveling from Ireland for this performance. Cost is $7 per person and $5 for children under 12.

— May 2 — "Everyday People Concert" at 7 p.m., sponsored by the Kankakee County Center for Sexual Assault. Details to follow.

FYI

For more information on the Watseka Theatre or to purchase tickets, call (815) 993-6585 or visit its Web site www.watsekatheatre.com.