Running head: RAPIDS THEATRE: CASE STUDY

Rapids Theatre Restoration Project: A Case Study

Tammy Hoppe
University of Florida

RAPIDS THEATRE: CASE STUDY

Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Supporting Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Description and Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Implication for Art Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

RAPIDS THEATRE: CASE STUDY

Rapids Theatre Restoration Project: A Case Study

I chose to do my fieldwork at the Rapids Theatre, which is now in the
process of being restored to the beautiful historic piece of architecture it
once was. The faade of the Rapids Theatre appears finished to passers-by,
but the cold, naked skeletal structure exposed in the buildings interior is far,
far from finished. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Rapids Theatre ticket booth and front doors. This image
shows the fully restored main entry of Rapids Theatre.

Jackie Telford and Matt Dengler had the foresight three years ago to
conceive of and then coordinate the renovation of Rapids Theater, a small
town relic of a building with quite a history (J. Telford, personal
communication, November 1, 2014). I still remember going to movies in

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this very theatre when I was a child.

Over the years I have seen this building serve several different
functions. Now I have been doing my fieldwork assignment here, giving
myself the opportunity to leave my own mark on this historic piece of
architecture. The progress of this buildings restoration can be followed on
Facebook, where, upon project completion, a calendar of dinner theatre
performances and pictures of theatre events will be posted for the dedicated
friends and patrons of the Rapids Theatre to follow.
Supporting Literature
The inspiration for my work on this field study began with information
from Villeneuve and Sheppards (2009) article, Close to Home: Studying Art
and Your Community. This article explains that art education with a
community-based approach gives art educators a local emphasis to use
when introducing and expanding curriculum. The benefit of this approach is
that students as well as teachers get a new opportunity to notice the
treasures that lie close to home but may be taken for granted or
misunderstood (Villeneuve, 2009). Rapids Theatre is one of our little
hometown treasures that had been forgotten but is now being brought back
to life through extensive renovation. Villeneuves (2009) article reminds
readers that the study of community-based art education (CBAE), such as
this local architectural restoration project, can teach that (a) different
cultures can coexist peacefully; (b) community-based art projects promote
better understanding of personal culture and heritage; (c) collective

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contributions and collaborative work strengthen community relationships;

(d) many outstanding learning experiences can be found in your home
community. All four of these points hold value to me in my educational
philosophy and thus affect my choice of curriculum and teaching
methodology.
Stakes (1994) work, Case Studies, is another inspiration in my field
research. First, his content gave me a foundation for understanding what a
case study is and does. My own case study is the study of an architectural
treasure and its renovations that hold both the potential to quality for the
National Register of Historic Places as well as the ability to be used as a
beautiful, fully functioning event center, theatre, and cinema. According to
Stakes (1994) list of three types of case studies, the Rapids Theatre project
is an intrinsic case study because, in all its particularity and ordinariness,
this case itself is of interest (p.237). It is not intended to be an
instrumental case study that has a place in understanding some other case
study, nor is it a collective case study that is intended to help with
understanding the meaning of a whole group of case studies (Stake, 1994).
Second, Stakes content also guided me in the nature of information I should
be looking for. Stake (1994) offers a well-rounded list of especially helpful
research content topics:

the nature of the case;

its historical background;

the physical setting;

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other contexts, including economic, political, legal, and aesthetic;

other cases through which this case is reorganized;

those informants through whom the case can be known (p. 238).

Finally, Stakes (1994) content truly enlightened me to the value of

triangulation as a method of seeking multiple perceptions in order to verify
consistency in data. Because of this new learning I purposefully and
consistently interviewed four different stakeholders in the Rapids Theatre
restoration project.
Additional inspiration in my qualitative method of interview data
collection comes from Ribbins (2007) and his thoughts on what makes
quality interview questions as well as on the different forms an interview can
take. Ribbins (1994) most beneficial suggestions for my own research
project include, first, asking questions that encourage interviewees to reveal
what is on their minds without suggesting desired answers and, second,
knowing that there are different ways of interviewing such as chats,
discussions, interviews, and verbal questionnaires. This new knowledge
enabled me to explore three different interview data collection strategies:
chat, discussion, and verbal questionnaire. The data collected through these
methods was very interesting and consistent among participants.
My final inspiration in my own field study project is King-Ratcliffes
(2014) capstone project. King-Ratcliffe interviewed three teaching artists in
the CBAE sector and shared her findings in such an eloquent and
comfortably readable manner. Her data gathering process was the

RAPIDS THEATRE: CASE STUDY

interview, which yielded an entertaining narrative report format. I intend to

use King-Ratcliffes writing style as inspiration for my own reporting of
interview data in my case study research project.
Overview
The mission of the Rapids Theatre project is to restore this historic
relic of architecture to the beautiful theatre, cinema, and ballroom it once
used to be. The goal of the projects board of directors is for this building to
be used as an event center, with the first floor seating and stage as well as
the second level balcony to be completed first so the building can be opened
for event rental, generating more income to help supplement the third floor
renovations budget. (See Figure 2.) Jackie Telford and Matt Dengler are
the founders of the project and started their advocacy and then construction
work in 2011. The current Rapids Theater board of directors includes Jackie
Telford (co-founder and president), Matt Dengler (co-founder and vicepresident), Norma Jansma (treasurer), Dorothy McCormack, Julie Tolvstad,
Shane Meyer, and Pete Pettingill. The board has largely been coordinating
legal business with an architecture firm in Des Moines that is in charge of
designing period-accurate architectural detail and also getting the legal
paperwork completed for the National Register of Historic Places. They then
organize the hands-on work of local volunteers based on their information
from the architecture firm. On the third Thursday of each month they hold
meetings to coordinate communication and keep progress moving along.

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Figure 2. Rapids Theatre Stage from Second Floor Balcony. The

balcony lines the west, north, and east walls and once housed
seating for dinner guests.

Once the Rapids Theatre restoration project is completed, the building

will be available to rent for events such as receptions, dinner theatre plays,
reunions, etc. There will be no kitchen but there will be a food preparation
area for caterers or renters to use. The first floor is the stage level and the
second floor is the theatre balcony, projector room, and small apartment
with balcony. These two levels will be restored first, probably by the end of
summer 2015. The final level to be restored is the third floor, or the
ballroom, which will also be available to rent either separately or in
conjunction with the theatre and balcony levels. The long-term plan is that
the bottom two floors of the building can soon be rented out, generating an
income to supplement a portion of the third floor restoration budget.

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To date, all of the project funding has come from donations, Forster
Charitable Trust funds, and Lyon County Riverboat Foundation (LCRF) grants
(J. Telford, personal communication, November 8, 2014). Donations have
come from several local residents as well as friends and family of locals or at
least fans and patrons of theatre arts in general. The Forster Charitable
Trust funds are a local private granting and funding entity in the name of a
prominent family of this communitys history. The Grand Falls Casino in the
same county sponsors the generous LCRF granting and donations program.
Future restoration budget money will come from these same resources but
they provide timely and somewhat limited funds compared to the overall
budgetary needs of the restoration project. With the projected sum budget
being two to three million dollars, a rigorous fundraising plan is of dire need.
Therefore, to attain the goal of completing the entire restoration by 2017,
the Rapids Theatre board of directors is collaborating on other more notable
income ideas, one being a matching funds challenge in which the local banks
and other businesses are challenged to match donation amounts with those
of the general public. I will be helping with this endeavor by putting
together more research and documentation as well as presenting preliminary
ideas for educational materials such as fliers and pamphlets.
Description and Discussion
I still remember going to movies in this very theatre when I was a
child. I especially remember three different movie-going adventures: one
with my whole family waiting in the freezing cold to get tickets to see a

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10

Christmas movie, another with my group of best friends all cuddling closely
during the saddest parts of Windwalker (1981), and a third one with my little
sister and brand new foster sister when I saw a boy and girl kissing for the
first time.
The project participants I interviewed shared stories similar to these
about their own memories of the theatre. They appeared equally as
passionate about their vivid recollections of Rapids Theatre as they did about
their commitment to achieving the restoration goals. Signs of these high
levels of commitment can easily been seen in the volunteers presence and
hands-on work many Saturday mornings throughout the summer and fall
months. Some Saturdays are workdays on which they clean, move,
deconstruct, touch up, mark, observe, or discuss some of the necessary
tasks. Completed tasks to date (November, 2014) include removing all
doors from doorways and moving them to the basement to be stored until it
is their turn to be repaired and restored, removing walls and other
construction additions that are not historically accurate, pulling all plaster
and lath from remaining walls, and getting outdated insulation out of the
rafters all the way up to the roof (R. Oliver, personal communication,
November 15, 2014). Also completed is the roof, renovation of the balcony
level and marquee, replacement of the south windows, and restoration of
the original front theatre doors and exterior faade. Telford clarifies that the
cost of getting the work this far along is $201,000 and that the big expenses
are coming next (personal communication, November 8, 2014).

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Projected project tasks include an elevator that will go all the way to
the third floor, redoing or replacing all interior surfaces, new electrical and
other specialty work inside the walls, and huge double hung windows for the
west wall. We need an elevator and thats going to cost big money: big
money (R. Oliver, personal communication, November 22, 2014). An
elevator has to be put in somewhere but we cant put it where we wanted to
because of all the citys wires in the ground, and it would cost way too much
to move all those wires. We just need to think of another way (N. Jansma,
personal communication, November 22, 2014). The elevator discussion has
already revealed one of the larger project expenses, and troubleshooting
possible solutions is ongoing.
In addition to preparing the stage for dinner theatre performances and
the floors for dining tables and chairs, the project board of directors is
planning to make showing movies a possibility once again. The necessary
equipment to show movies in the theatre will cost $70,000 (R. Oliver,
personal communication, November 22, 2014). The original film projector
still sits in the projector booth at the back of the second floor balcony level
appearing anxious to run its next reel of film. (See Figure 3.) Although this
machine is historically valuable, it is no longer necessary and will not be
restored as part of this overall project.

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Figure 3. Original Rapids Theatre Film Projector. The projector

still sits in the projector room and all of the machines parts
are still assembled.

Over the years I have seen this building take on several different
functions. After first remembering it as a theatre, I recall when it was used
as an interior design and window treatment store. Next, it was a fabric,
quilting, notions, and sewing machines store. After that it was converted
into a ritzy restaurant and lounge (The Intermission) that opened and closed
three different times over the years. Today the building is in the process of
returning to its original appeal. The project continues to move along slowly
although consistently. As funding becomes available and proper
architectural information gets approved and passed on to contractors, stages
of restoration take place with the help of numerous volunteers. New
windows will be installed this winter on the west wall and then first floor and

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balcony restorations will take place during the summer of 2015. By the fall
of 2015 Rapids Theatre may be ready for event rental, generating its own
income to assist with the budget for top floor renovations that will be taking
place last. With consistency in volunteer help and improvements in funding
income, this entire restoration project could be completed as early as 2017.
Although it would be wonderful to have the building ready sooner,
everything in the process appears strong and effective because of its
consistency in progress, support, and leadership. The board of directors is
doing all it can do to keep each step of the restoration process moving along
in an acceptable legal and affordable manner. To add my own element of
support, I will design potential printed, digital, and online educational
materials and I will continue my research and documentation of the Rapids
Theatre restoration project.
Implications for the Field of Art Education
As an art educator with a growing involvement in and commitment to
the restoration of Rapids Theatre, I see tremendous benefits in the field of
art education with studying and helping out in a project such as this. As
Villeneuve (2009) stated, stronger community connections and awareness of
local culture and heritage are greatly heightened in this type of work.
Additionally, the intrinsic rewards that accompany the collaborative work of
collective assistance are extremely gratifying. These are learning
experiences visual arts teachers can provide children in a school arts
education program simply by including a study of an architecturally

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interesting or historically relevant building right in the schools home

community. Otherwise, a community-based art education program can
either work on or in such an interesting alternative site for art education.
Even if students do not take up a hands-on role, they can still develop a
personal interest in or commitment to local history and culture through the
study of community architecture.
My personal connection to the Rapids Theatre restoration project at
the beginning of my study definitely influenced my potential for a greater
level of growth and high quality learning. Students might now be able to
begin a similar study with the heartfelt relevance I had because they likely
would not have the fond memories upon which to build new learning. To
overcome the learning advantage I had with my already developed personal
connection to the structure, an art educator should begin the study of a local
architectural celebrity with careful consideration of how to get students to
draw personal connections to the project. The art educator would have to
design alternative methods for generating student interest and commitment
through avenues such as historical and cultural connections, mathematical
challenges, scientific mysteries, architectural and design elements, or
storytelling possibilities.
Further studies of this theory could be done right in the art classroom
or even at locations within walking distance of the art classroom. Studies
could also be conducted in conjunction with homeroom teachers learning
activities such as fieldtrips or explorative excursions. The key questions in

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such research might be what elements of a site-based learning activity

draw the greatest levels of student interest in and commitment to new
learning? and how can new site-based learning activities be designed so
that these same draws of interest and commitment are present each time?
I feel these are questions teachers are already asking themselves regularly,
but a conscious study of such information would greatly inform and
strengthen an art educators curriculum planning and teaching methods.

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References

King-Ratcliffe, M. (2014), A study of three teaching artists working within a

community-based arts education setting.
Rapids Theatre. (2011). Facebook page. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rapids-Theatre/205426966201220
Ribbins, P. (2007). Interviews in education research: Conversations with
purpose. In A. Briggs & M. Coleman (Eds.), Research methods in
educational leadership and management (pp. 207-223). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Stake, R. (1994). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.),
Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 236-247). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Thomas, E. B. (Producer), & Merrill, K. (Director). (1980). Windwalker
[Motion picture]. United States: Santa Fe International.
Villeneuve, P. & Sheppard, D. (2009). Close to home: Studying art and your
community. Art Education, 62(1), 6-13.