By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – Ghostlight Productions, the non-profit musical theatre company, has just purchased the McCrorie Building, which is directly adjacent to the Lincoln Theater in downtown Port Angeles.

Ghostlight is the Lincoln Theatre’s principal resident theatre company, and has partnered with the theater owners as a fiscal sponsor. Artistic Director Mark Lorentzen says the plan is to make the McCrorie Building “Ghostlight Headquarters” and, essentially, punch through the wall they share and create adjoining venues.

“What this building will allow us to do, it’s essentially giving us an additional 15,000 square feet of space that we can use for a variety of different purposes. So, first and foremost, if everyone remembers what the Lincoln Theater was like and, you know how tiny the lobby was, this is going to give us the ability to expand the lobby so that we’ll be able to do things like desserts, cocktails, in a shared reception area. And then, additionally, we’ll have all of our support facilities, so, things like a proper scenery shop, a costume shop, storage. So that, in addition to what’s happening at the Lincoln, will create a real nice center for Ghostlight’s operations. And hopefully, we’ll see a lot of things happening there.”

Lorentzen said the plan also includes a space to continue their academy work, encouraging the development of young talent, and a so-called “Black Box Theater” for the performance of smaller scale productions. There will also be a big upgrade to the current restroom situation being offered at the Lincoln Theater.

The price tag for Ghostlight Headquarters was $680,000. Lorentzen says the building is in good shape but will require a lot of work to create the venue they envision. Not the least of which will be breaching the wall they share with the theater.

“Yeah, there is not a passageway already. A lot of the original Lincoln structure is good old brick and mortar, and then when we get into the McCrorie building, it’s a lot of masonry. And the actual engineering of what that will look like is still being figured out, right now. But, you know, our plan is to, essentially, in select areas of the building, connect them with passageways that we can use to like, for example, load scenery directly onto the stage.  Or, the main focus of course, would be just expanding that lobby area so it’s a larger reception area for audience members.”

Ghostlight Studios will move its general operations from its present, smaller space a block away to the new building sometime in June. Lorentzen says the dream is to complete the renovation in 3-5 years, and make it a part of what he describes as the renaissance of the downtown district.

“We know that that might sound crazy to some people, but we are going to do everything in our power to make that happen. And, I guess you just have to continue to dream big. And, you know, right now we’re in a really amazing, kind of, spirit of Renaissance for the downtown area. So many great projects are happening downtown. So, it’s all really, really great stuff. It’s exciting to be a part of it.”

Watch Ghostlightwa.org for information on upcoming performances, academy classes, as well as opportunities to donate to The Lincoln Project.

(Illustration: Proposed Lincoln Theater restoration)