The lights go down, voices hush, and the audience brims with

anticipation as they wait for the curtain to rise.

When the lights come up and the curtain opens, few of the patrons

sitting in the Cedarcrest Performing Arts Center understand just how

miraculous it is that there is a show to see. Resourceful students, under the

guidance of drama teacher Karen King, have managed to create another

show with production values that belie the paucity of equipment in this

intimate theater. In true show-business tradition, they have worked their magic

to transform meager materials into an illusion of grandeur.

When Cedarcrest High School opened in 1993, the theater began as

a jewel in the rough. The basic shell was there, but the equipment necessary

to bring it to life was not. Though students clamored to get into

drama classes, the technical theater training they needed to round out their

experience in theater arts just wasn’t available. Over the years, Mrs. King’s

students got used to selling candy bars in order to equip the theater with the

most basic essentials. They bought used lighting boards and sound

systems, purchased fabric to sew into make-do stage draperies, and sacrificed a

good portion of the usable stage space in order to store scenery and props

backstage.

In the fall of 1998, the Duvall Arts Commission and the Duvall

Foundation for the Arts began presenting professional performances in the theater.

They soon learned the limitations of the space. Artistic directors who

came to assess how they would produce their shows in the theater unfailingly

loved the space at first sight, but puzzled over why it was technically incomplete.

Some cited safety concerns because of the crowded backstage area and

the number of extension cords necessary to rig up even the most basic

lighting plots. In order to present the performing artists they wanted to bring to

the community, the arts groups had to rent equipment to meet even the

scaled down requirements of most shows. When the performances attracted

large audiences, the arts groups decided to share half of their proceeds to

donate additional lighting instruments to the theater.

But it is beyond the scope of the students’ candy bar sales and the

arts groups’ donations to bring the theater up to the standard the school and

the community deserve. Meanwhile, students miss out on valuable

vocational training that could qualify them to work in technical theater jobs, and

the community loses out when arts groups have to decline opportunities

to present great artists because of the theater’s technical limitations.

On Feb. 29, voters will be asked to approve a levy to complete

the Cedarcrest Performing Arts Center. For a total cost of $210,000,

($0.07 per $1,000 in 2001 and 2002), the Lower Snoqualmie Valley can have

a theater that lives up to its promise. We can polish that jewel and allow its

radiance to shine through.

When you vote on Feb. 29, vote YES for schools, vote YES for

performing arts.

Carolyn A. Butler

Duvall