View of the basement dressing room area under the stage at the Wieting Theatre. Plans call for an addtion to the east of the building to include a new dressing room which would be differently-abled accessible. Photos/Denise Fletcher

“A small venue for live performing arts.”

This is the mission statement for Phase II at the Wieting Theatre and Opera House.

The Phase I renovation was completed in 2012 and the theatre re-opened in April of 2012. Since then the theatre has shown movies on the weekends and there have been 111 live events at the theatre and opera house. A total of 50 of these events have been for profit, 15 have been fine arts performances and 46 event have been donated to the community.

Now the Opera house Trustees and the Wieting Theatre Guild would like to complete the project to meet the mission statement above. They have been working on the plan since late 2014 headed by building committee with Jim Plantz as chairman.

With the assistance of an architect, a building engineer and a contractor, the building committee has come up with estimated costs of $1,250,000 to complete phase II. We would use local sub-contractors as much as possible in this project.

A lighting control panel backstage at the Wietng.

Phase II would consist of the following, to wit:

1. Reinforce beams under seating area.

2. Eliminate water coming into the basement.

3. Bring the theatre up to current code regulations.

4. Enable new rigging, lights and sound over the stage area.

An upshot toward the rigging behind the curtain at the Wieting.

5. Insulate the ceiling for energy efficiency.

6. Provide a new addition to the east side of the theatre for a dressing room, restroom storage and loading dock.

7. Open up opportunities for live theatre events.

8. Enhance pride in the Wieting Theatre and Opera house for the next 100 years.

The Theatre and opera house mean so much to our community and to the youth and future of our community.

The Wieting theatre, Toledo, Iowa. Chronicle file photo

Now, you say to yourself, can this be done? Yes, I believe it can. Since 2012 the Guild, made up of 15 members with Denise Flethcer as president,, has shown a yearly profit of around $20,000 per year.

The theatre operates with the help of over 125 volunteers and there are no paid employees.

The present balance in the Phase II Restoration Fund is $73,144. The Guild has donated $30,000 to this fund since July 1, 2015.

The fund raising committee has now hired the fundraiser who helped us with the original renovation and she will be writing and enhance Iowa grant along with other area grants.

We will soon be sending out letters for local fundraising. We know that our community will support this project and we thank you in advance for your past and future assistance.

Exterior view of the early Wieting on a postcard.

If you have any questions or would like a tour of the theatre, give me a call. Thanks from our your people and see ya’ at the Wieting.

Jim Roan, Project Manager (cell0 641-751-6822.