Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006020155
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OPERA NEEDS THEATER WITH MORE SEATS

There was a waiting list for tickets to all three performances in Olin Hall, which seats about 450. Executive director Judith Clark said SVO probably could have sold out a fourth performance, but the added expense of an additional show made it economically impractical.

Ticket sales offset only about a third of the cost of an SVO production, which typically comes in at about $50,000.

For SVO, the ideal situation would be two performances in a hall of about 1,000 seats. Such a facility does not exist, though some see potential in the 900-seat auditorium at Jefferson High School. Closed since 1974, the building is being renovated as Jefferson Center for the arts, education and social services, and will be ready in an estimated two years.

"That's the bottom line," Clark said. "We need a theater with more seats."

Clark and other opera officials nonetheless are delighted with the success of "La Boheme." Last fall's production of "The Magic Flute" also was a sellout, but Clark said "we thought maybe it was a fluke."

Apparently not.

"La Boheme" was presented May 17, 19 and 21. The day off between performances is for the benefit of the performers. The lead singers, in particular, need a rest between the physically and vocally taxing shows.

Before Festival . . .

Before Festival in the Park, there was the Sidewalk Art Show.

That is sometimes forgotten during all the hoopla over the 20-year-old Festival, of which the 32-year-old art show is now but a part.

The art show, which is run by the Roanoke Museum of Arts Docent Guild as a fund-raiser for the museum, has grown along with the festival. Some 265 artists from 11 states and many parts of Virginia are registered for the 1990 show, which takes place today and Sunday in Elmwood Park and nearby.

Prize money for the artists is at an all-time high of $5,975 this year.

Billboard art

Visual teasers for the 1991 Blue Ridge Renaissance will appear this fall in the form of four original-art billboards around the valley.

The artists who have been selected to do the billboards are Martha Dillard of Blacksburg and Brian Sieveking and Shawn Murray of Roanoke. The fourth billboard will be by a group of children at this summer's Beaux Arts camp.

Blue Ridge Renaissance is a two-week arts festival, still in the planning stage, which will make its debut in the fall of 1991. It will be promoted at that time by a second group of billboards.

The billboard project is administered by The Arts Council of Roanoke Valley, with underwriting or in-kind support from Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. and Lamar Advertising Co.

Admission charges begin

Starting July 9, there will be a regular admission charge to exhibits at the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts.

"We're in the position now of needing more revenue," museum president Dixie Wolf said in recommending the charge to her board of trustees. "That's the bottom line."

With few exceptions, including the recent show of paintings of the American West, exhibits at the museum traditionally have been free.

The charge will be $2 for the general public and 50 cents for children. Payment of the fee will admit visitors to all galleries. The policy of free admission on Fridays will be continued.

Museum members will be admitted free at all times.

Exemptions from the fee can be obtained for visiting dignitaries and other forms of what the museum is calling "special interest groups." Groups that hope to qualify should contact the museum.

The Young Art Patrons' May 18 Black and White Ball raised some $3,800 for the museum. The money will be used for scholarships to the museum's educational classes and workshops.

Weinstein play read in NY

Jo Weinstein's "A Christian Burial" recently was given a staged reading in New York by the Polaris Repertory Company.

The playwright is literary manager for Roanoke's Mill Mountain Theatre.

She said there were "encouraging words" from the agents, directors and other theatrical types in the New York audience, but she's heard nothing so far regarding the possibility of a production of her play.