The Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre is looking to expand - and it's looking right into Island Park.
The theater has established a building fund for future expansion of the facility, on the east end of the park at 333 4th St. S., Fargo.
The community theater plans on constructing a black- box theater, specifically focusing on youth programming. Typically, black-box theaters are smaller spaces without much for theatrical sets or lights.
The proposed addition, which is still in its preliminary stages, would seat about 150 people and extend the theater about 70 feet westward into the park, said FMCT managing artistic director Charlene Hudgins.
"Before we do anything again, we would get that re-ratified," Hudgins said of the past approvals. "We're just getting started. One of the first things we're trying to do is get a feel for the support of it."
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"Anything that comes into the park is a very sensitive issue," Fargo Park District executive director Roger Gress said. "Island Park has about 33 acres. It's one of Fargo's prized possessions."
The 129-year-old park was given to the city by the Northern Pacific Railroad. Originally called Lincoln Park, the public space was eventually renamed Island Park when the Red River left high ground dry during flooding. The land, on the southern edge of downtown is the home to many oak trees, some more than a century old.
Hudgins said that the last expansion done on the community theater was in 1994, when several expansions gained the approval of the Fargo Park Board.
During the theater's youth production of "Bridge to Terabitha," which runs Oct. 19-21 and Oct. 25-28, Hudgins said a questionnaire asking for community input will be passed out in the play's programs.
Gress said concerns could arise about the expansion.
"This is very preliminary," said Gress, adding that, in order to get approval, the community theater would need to go through the facilities committee and the Park Board again.
He said it's unlikely that any Park Board members were serving at the time the last expansion project was approved.
FMCT business and development director Sherry Shadley said talk of the facility's expansion began as youth interest in theater programs has considerably increased over the past few years.
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"I think we've just seen an enormous amount of talent in the children in this community," Shadley said. "All the theaters with youth programming in this area saw record numbers in enrollment."
The theater's expansion would reflect that level of interest, Hudgins said.
In 2005, "to cast the Oompa Loompas and the children in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' we had over 200 children audition," she said. "We just want to make sure that we have a place where they can perform."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Kim Winnegge at (701) 241-5509
