Cumberland County High School Theater students will bring up the curtain on the school’s newly built auditorium with a drama production Thursday.
Cumberland County Theater Teacher Angela Robbins said performing in the new auditorium is something many people have been waiting on for quite some time.
“I’ve been teaching in this building since 2003 and we have been renting a venue for over two decades,” Robbins said. “So my students have been waiting and waiting and waiting, so for the community, it’s going to be a really special thing to have this building.”
Robbins said people will notice how beautiful and spacious the auditorium is when walking in for the first time. Robbins said the auditorium also features state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment.
“The sound carries very well, Robbins said. “But we have sound buffers so it’s got a nice sound in the building. All of our lights are LED and we really have state-of-the-art equipment in there like the newest available and so just being able to program on our white boards has been an adventure and we are really excited to enter that era of theater where we can get into sort of a technical theater that my program hasn’t bene able to do for decades because we haven’t had the equipment to play with.”
Robbins said the auditorium gives the school’s Theatrix Club a place to call home. Robbins said the new auditorium will provide new opportunities for the theater club.
“It will allow us to do a few shows that we haven’t been able to do,” Robbins said. “We almost have a 60-foot stage in the auditorium. The Palace was beautiful and we were so thankful to be able to use the palace, but the stage is just a little over 20 feet. So things like musicals can now be an option.”
Robbins said having the auditorium will cut down the struggles of moving sets in vans from the school to the Palace Theater.
Robbins said theater students will be performing a show called “Now In Our Day” which is an original production written by CCHS students. Robbins said the show is about Generation Z and their place in society.
The opening night for the new auditorium will be Thursday, at 7pm.
