Remodeling Costs for Auditorium Still Up in Air in Fullerton

Just over a year from the projected closing of Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium for renovation, officials say it will be October before they will know the final cost and scope of the remodeling. The 60-year-old building needs air conditioning, an orchestra pit, more bathrooms and other improvements, but an initial budget of $1.5 million, to be supplied by Fullerton’s Redevelopment Agency, may not cover all the needs identified, said Bill Flory, maintenance and operations director for the Fullerton High School District. Meanwhile, some arts groups that will have to take their presentations elsewhere during the year-long renovation are still seeking alternative venues.

A Performance Poetry Competition will publicly pit poets against their peers June 30 at the Fullerton Museum Center. Organizers expect dozens of Southern California scribes to compete for a first-place prize of $100 by reading their works to judges Antonia Smolen, Robert Peters and Susan Hecht, literary authorities who will evaluate content as well as delivery. Admission is $3 to the 7 p.m. competition, presented by the Poets Reading Inc. literary group, which hopes to make it an annual event. Contestants, charged $5 each, may still enter. Information: (714) 441-1820.

San Diego-based Paper Tiger Southwest, which produces half-hour cable TV programs on media issues, will come to the Fullerton Museum Center on June 23 to tape a show entitled “Interferencia: the Media, Racism and the Border.” The group will present theatrical performances that examine media portrayals of border and immigration issues. Admission for studio audience members is $4 to $5. Information: (714) 738-6545.

The St. Joseph Ballet Company will hold auditions for boys and girls, 9 to 19, on July 14. No previous training is required. The Santa Ana-based company was created by Beth Burns in 1983 to give dance training to inner-city youngsters, and about 95% of its members receive full scholarships from the company. Information: (714) 541-8314.

High school jazz musicians are invited to audition for the Jazz Combo at the Orange County High School of the Arts in Los Alamitos. Musicians should be prepared to play a jazz solo and to sight-read and improvise with a blues progression, according to the combo’s director, Chuck Wackerman. The High School of the Arts is on the campus of Los Alamitos High School. To schedule an audition, call Wackerman at (213) 596-1435.