Moving on up

Irma Lemus

MEDIA CITY CENTER -- Four years after negotiations began between the

city of Burbank and Silver Lake based Colony Studio Theatre, the group

will move into its new Burbank home in April, officials said.

Transforming the former satellite building of the Los Angeles County

Natural History Museum into a 276-seat, 40,000 square feet theater has

been a joint project between the city and Colony, said Mary Alvord,

Burbank Parks and Recreation director. The city’s share of the work will

be $1.4 million.

“The property use is very specific. It had to be used for a cultural

or social use that is beneficial to the community,” Alvord said.

Colony officials said the theater group, which puts on a variety of

comedies, dramas and musicals, hopes to stage its first production in

Burbank this summer. The opening act for Colony will be “Dandelion Wine,”

a musical based on the book by science fiction legend Ray Bradbury.

Discussions between Burbank and Colony began in 1996 when the museum

moved out of the building after just three years to cut costs, city

officials said.

Alvord said the city is paying most of the costs of renovating the

building, which is located on the corner of Cypress Ave. and Third St.

behind the Media City Center Mall. Colony is responsible for the

installation of the lighting and sound systems and building the dressing

rooms. The work is scheduled to be finished by April 10, Alvord said.

For Barbara Beckley, the producing director and a co-founder of

Colony Studio Theatre, the move is an indication that her small theater

is becoming more successful.

“We’re so excited about moving into the new theater in Burbank,”

Beckley said.

When Colony began to grow out of its current theater at 1944 Riverside

Drive in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, the group began

looking at Burbank, Beckley said.

“What better place to move to. You have the entertainment industry

there,” said Beckley, who helped establish the theater 25 years ago.

Alvord said Colony will be responsible for running the facility on a

day-to-day -- or show-to-show -- basis. In addition to Colony’s

productions, community theater groups will also put on performances at

the theater.

After a lengthy period of idleness, the museum building will once

again be contributing to the local cultural scene.

“It’s taken a long time because we wanted to bring in the theater at a

low cost,” Alvord said.