STEUBENVILLE - After 61 years, the wooden seats in Catholic Central High School's Lanman Hall are starting to wear thin.
"The seats are original to 1950 when the school was built. We have had thousands of students, parents and visitors sit in those seats over the years. It's time for a change," said Dolores Michnowicz, assistant principal at Catholic Central High School.
There are 966 seats in the auditorium that are set for replacement as soon as school officials can raise approximately $125,000.
Lanman Hall already has been repainted, the stage has been refinished and a new sound system was installed last week.
"We have upgraded our Blue Rooms on each side of the stage for costumes, make-up and calling areas, thanks to a grant from the Martha Earp Foundation," explained Rich Wilinski, principal of Catholic Central High School. "That same foundation made refinishing the stage floor possible and the new sound system was installed by CA House after we received a grant from the Berkman Foundation. The repainting of the auditorium was made possible by a grant from Avanti Management and the Berkman Foundation.
"And the Berkman Foundation is providing the funding for new curtains and rigging as well as new lighting in the auditorium. That's why we plan to name the auditorium Berkman Theater in Lanman Hall sometime next year," said Wilinski.
"Dolores Michnowicz has been very instrumental in writing the grant applications for these projects. We are also very thankful to the fine arts committee for the direction they have provided for us as we have worked to make these improvements," commented Wilinski.
"We are deeply grateful to the benefactors, especially the Berkman Foundation, for helping us to make these improvements. And now we are prepared to embark on our next major project and replace the seats," announced Wilinski during a press conference at the school Monday morning.
"So far we have received enough donations to replace 112 seats with blue cushioned seats. We currently have 966 seats but some will be removed during the renovation in order to have handicapped seating areas. At this point we need to raise about $125,000 to replace the wooden seats. A 200 donation will buy a new seat, and we will include a small name plate of the donor on the arm of the chair," explained Wilinski.
"We are investing in the future of the theater and auditorium because we have some really skilled students in our junior high school and high school who perform on this stage. We want to provide a first-class venue for the students as well as the public who may wish to offer a production on our stage," Wilinski said.
"We have looked at replacing the heating and cooling system but the initial bids were approximately $250,000. So that will be a project for the future," added Wilinski.
"The family, friends and alumni of Catholic Central have always supported us and have been very positive. We hope that support continues as we continue this major campaign to upgrade our theater and auditorium," Wilinski added.
The tradition of taking tests in the auditorium also will be changed when the seats are replaced.
"We won't be taking exams in here. We will have the exams in the cafeteria in the future," Michnowicz said.
(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)
