File photo | The Republic An exterior shot of the Crump Theatre.
Many venue leaders concern themselves early on with putting people in the seats in a newly-opened structure.
At the 134-year-old recently reopened Crump Theatre still undergoing another cycle of renovation and modernization, organizers and volunteers currently are concerning themselves this month with putting in seats for the audience.
As in newer, donated seating t0 to replace the current seats from 1940 at the Third Street downtown venue. It will make for a total capacity of 700 spots once the balcony, which recently has been used for storage, is open in a few months after new, taller and safer railing is installed. In fact, that’s all part of the Crump’s latest fundraising campaign called Save A Seat.
A $240 donation to the cause gets a donor’s name affixed to a chair. A $500 donation puts the donor’s chair in the venue’s first five rows.
All of the existing seating in the Crump was removed in the past few days.
Some of the newer seating includes double-wide “date seats” that the venue once had in the past. All but about 90 of the total newer seats have been donated. The purchased ones, obtained from a Corydon structure, cost about $300 total.
A bid provided by a leading national theater venue seating company last year put the cost of brand new seats at $254,000 for 605 seats — about 100 fewer than the Crump will have by the end of the month.
Jessica Schnepp, Crump project manager, emphasized that the newer seating, obtained from various sources, is more than window dressing. That includes nearly 500 donated, reupholstered seats from the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis.
“This isn’t just putting lipstick on a pig — cleaning up the place and throwing some paint on it,” she said.
She referred in part to new energy efficiency. For example, by installing LED lighting last year, Schnepp said the Crump monthly electric bill has been cut nearly in half.
“We’re creating an energy efficient building that is structurally sound so that, here in 2024, when we’re turning 135, we’ll have a building that, ideally, will be positioned to able to keep going for another 135 years,” she said.
“That’s the ideal goal.”
Hutch Schumaker, president of the nonprofit Columbus Capital Foundation that owns the venue last week gave Schnepp a vote of confidence by rehiring her for 2024 as the paid project manager after two years in that role, and also after she served as a volunteer coordinator. He regularly has praised Schnepp’s networking, fundraising and coordination of a plethora of repairs, from the new marquee to a new roof to heating that is now on and will be updated.
“I think the general public would be shocked at the progress if they knew everything that is being done,” Schumaker said.
He is perhaps the only community leader who has seen up close the theater move from being almost exclusively a successful dollar-movie venue in the mid-1990s to a sometimes-struggling weekend concert venue a decade later to being closed and somewhat decaying after that.
“I think that people who have been to events there recently have been pleasantly surprised (by the progress),” Schumaker said.
He estimated that well into six figures worth of volunteer, donated, in-kind, or paid-for improvements have been done since the renovation began full-tilt since 2019. Schnepp said if donated architect and engineering fees are added in, that figure would climb near $2 million. For example, structural repairs such as truss work done for $30,000 actually would have cost $275,000 alone without donated materials and more, according to Schnepp.
“Even competing businesses have been working together,” she said, citing a variety of electrical firms doing various needed projects. “That’s been very humbling to see.”
In the Crump’s modernization, a back area on the main level will include a leveled, platform space for accessible seating, vendor spaces or bar-top tables for those who wish to stand and socialize.
“It will give us a true flexibility to host nearly any type of event,” Schnepp said.
Regarding flexibility, she is proud of the fact that the Crump in early December hosting a youth amateur boxing event that attracted a regional, capacity crowd. She als0 mentioned that, thus far, event attendees have had no complaints about parking since most have been using the empty Third Street lot just to the east of the Crump.
They also have used the nearby city garage.
How to help
Crump Theatre leaders say the No. 1 way to help the current renovation is by sponsoring a seat to pay for other expenses. A $240 donation to the cause gets a donor’s name affixed to a chair. A $500 donation puts the donor’s chair in the venue’s first five rows.
Donations can be mailed to the Crump at P.O. Box 2072, Columbus IN 47202 or can be sent through Venmo @crump-theatre.
Information: Jessica Schnepp at 812-350-6447 or [email protected].
