Vista Ridge High School drama club students no longer have to hang black paper to darken the cafeteria windows before presenting their plays.
The high school band and dance team won’t have to drive across town, along with their parents and friends, for a concert.
This week, the fine arts department presents the spring musical, “Into the Woods,” by Stephen Somdheim and James Lapine, in the inaugural performance in the school’s new performing arts center. The play is performed by the drama club and music performed by the school’s music theater international.
Tickets for the show are available on campus or by contacting Dona Dye at 570-1864 or emailing her at dona.dye@leanderisd.org.
The musical begins with tonight’s performance at 8 p.m. and continues Friday and Saturday with evening performances at 8 p.m. and a matinee show Saturday at 2 p.m.
The grand opening ceremony for the auditorium is before the Friday night show at 7:45 p.m.
Peter Warshaw, fine arts director for the Leander Independent School District, said until now, Vista Ridge High School had been the only high school within the district without an auditorium. Both Cedar Park and Leander high schools have performing art centers.
The decision that all high schools within the district would have a performing arts center came in time for Rouse High School to have had an auditorium built at the time of construction.
“Vista Ridge had a cafetorium,” Warshaw said. “It was not a productive environment for them.”
Room had been saved on the school campus, he said, for an auditorium to be added. And in 2006, the decision to add the auditorium was approved by voters in the school bond election. The estimated cost then was $7.5 million.
Jimmy Disler, LISD executive director of capital improvements, said $1.9 million was added to the project because of increased construction costs. The money used to cover the additional costs came from River Ridge Elementary, which was then covered under the 2007 bond election.
The final amount allotted for the project was $9.4 million, and the construction cost of the project was $8.28 million, Disler said.
“The new auditorium is the same as the district’s two PACs – in that the stage area and fly space (for storing stage curtains) are both the same size,” Warshaw said. Seating in the new auditorium, 396 spots, is smaller than the Leander High School PAC, which seats 900.
“All have the same sound and acoustic treatments,” he said, “and the lighting and sound systems are very good.
“We want the auditoriums to be equitable from campus to campus,” Warshaw said, adding that the district has two more arts centers than a lot of other districts have.