IRVINE : Safety Code Violations Close School Theater

Woodbridge High School officials are scrambling to find a theater for their annual spring musical after fire officials closed the campus theater because of safety code violations.

The 15-year-old, 1,800-student high school had converted a lecture hall into a theater. A group of parents built an extension to the stage about nine years ago, Principal Greg Cops said.

“The stage is actually a classroom that was raised up about two steps,” Cops said. “It was so useful, everybody who used the room said, ‘Let’s just leave it up.’ ”

But a county Fire Authority inspector last week told school officials that the stage is too large for the size of the room, has insufficient wheelchair access to the exits and lacks sprinklers beneath its newer section.

Because the theater has seating for only 150, students in the past have given daily performances for a week to accommodate all those who wish to attend the spring musical.

Cops met with representatives of Irvine Barclay Theatre at UC Irvine on Thursday about the possibility of holding this year’s production there. Another possible site, he said, is the University High School theater in Irvine.

In addition to the spring musical, set to open May 7, Woodbridge High has a play and four other events scheduled this school year.

Cops said his problem is shared by officials at a number of other newer schools. Because of a change in state funding formulas, some schools have run out of construction funds and have not been able to build beyond classrooms and other mandatory facilities. University High, for example, did not complete its 400-seat theater until 1994--23 years after the school opened.

“Many of the newer high schools are in the same sort of awkward situation,” Cops said.