Best seat in the house

POLSON — When Karen and Neal Lewing bought chairs for

the John Dowdall Theatre 27 years ago from the historic Fox Theatre

in Missoula, they had to remove the seats from a darkened building

with the power already shut off. Then they had to work tirelessly

to figure out the right combination of different-sized chairs that

would fit into their building in Polson.

Now the chairs are getting a face lift, quite

literally, as 16-year-old Preston Alexander re-installed all the

seats on wooden wedges to give more comfort to theatre-goers.

Alexander, who has been involved in the theatre for four years, did

it for his Eagle Scout project.

“I’ve known Neal and Karen for years and they’re

really good people,” Alexander said. “They’re an asset to the

community and it’s good to give back.”

Since the original Fox Theatre had a flat-tiered

surface, the chairs were designed to be pointed straight forward.

However, due to the nature of the seating structure, the seats were

originally installed on a downward slant.

No more, however, because after over 25 hours of work

to get the wooden wedges installed, people in the Mission Valley

will now be sitting upright.

“It’s going to make the biggest difference for the

patrons,” Alexander said.  

While it will add comfort to the theatre, it wasn’t

an easy process for Alexander, who’s been in the scouts for six

years. He had to prepare and plan for the project, talk to people

to get the tools for the project and then roll up the sleeves and

get down to business – with help from friends, family and fellow

scouts, of course.

“Once we got all the tools, it went by in a couple of

days,” Alexander said. “We also had to get used to using all these

tools.”

Alexander got to work at the historic John Dowdall

Theatre, which has plenty of stories from the past just oozing

through the walls.

“It’s quite amazing,” Alexander said. “If you just

look around there’s the history of this place everywhere.”

Alexander’s dad, Steven, knew first hand what kind of

legacy his son was dealing with.

“I used to go in the Fox Theatre in Missoula,” he

said. “I used to sit in these chairs when I was a young kid.”

Alexander and company removed the seats once again –

meticulously since their order had to be preserved otherwise they

wouldn’t fit – then buffed and repainted the floor before

reinstalling them with the wedges. However, unlike 27 years ago

when the chairs were removed from the Fox Theatre, the power was

still on in the building.

And that has allowed the Port Polson Players to put

on a rare winter show for the Mission Valley community.

“Normally we drain the pipes at the end of November,

after the fall musical, and open it up again in March,” Karen

Lewing said.

Since the building was going to be heated for

Alexander’s renovations, the thought was… the show might as well go

on.

“We had our annual Mission Valley Friends of the Arts

board meeting a couple of weeks ago and we asked them about keeping

the heat on through January,” Lewing said. “They OK’d it and I

thought, ‘Gee, we’re going to heat the building for the renovation,

Neal and I needed to be there for Preston’s project so might as

well do a show.’”

The Port Polson Players will again dip into history

for their production. Twenty-five years ago they performed “Wait

Until Dark” and they’ll be doing it this Friday. In fact, Neal

Lewing and Todd Mowbray have reprised the roles they played 25

years ago on the Polson High School stage.

“It’s such a fantastic, thrilling script,” Karen

Lewing said. “The suspense is bar-none. Everyone enjoyed [our most

recent production of] ‘Sweeney Todd’ so much, we might as well keep

the ball rolling with another high-suspense drama.”

“Wait Until Dark” involves three con men who try and

smuggle drugs in a doll, which is unknowingly given to a little

girl by a blind woman and her husband. The show was written in

1966, the same time period in which the play is set, and was also a

1967 movie starring Audrey Hepburn.

“The scenes in the movie involving the blind

character, Susy, and the little girl that lives upstairs weren’t up

to snuff,” Lewing said. “Wait until you see our Susy played by Kara

Bishop and little 9-year-old Taylor Collinge.”

Collinge’s dad is also in the show.

“Taylor and her dad, Gary Collinge, are making the

show a family event; Gary plays Susy’s husband,” Lewing said. 

As a matter of fact, half the cast works at Super 1

Foods. Gary Collinge is the store’s manager, Wayne Morris, who

plays one of the cons works in the meat department and Jim

Siragusa, assistant manager, appears as a police officer.

The show premiers on Friday and will go on for the

next two weekends. Lewing said she’s very pleased with the cast and

expects people to be comfortable, albeit on edge, during the show,

thanks to Alexander’s hard work.

“I’ll be quite honest by telling you the performers

we’ve got will beat the film hands down,” Lewing said. “I truly

believe we’ll have you jumping out of your new comfortable theatre

seats.”

“Wait Until Dark” plays two weekends, Friday,

Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 6, 7 and 8 and Jan. 13, 14 and 15.

Curtain is 7:30 on Fridays and Saturdays with a 2 p.m. matinee on

Sundays.