Panida seeks input on lobby changes

By Reader Staff

The board of directors of the Panida Theater is inviting feedback from the community on whether — or how — to make changes to the theater’s lobby area to address concerns about crowding during full-house events. 

To that end, the Panida is hosting an open house on Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with an exhibit of various plans for lobby improvements. Panida board members will be on hand to provide details and context for the plans, which range from a “no-changes” option, to augmenting the lobby with access to the theater’s currently vacant northern retail space or constructing a pass-through to the adjacent Little Theater.

“The bottom-line factor about any change for the lobby is to strictly maintain its historical character,” stated Panida Board President Sean Behm. “But assuming any change does adhere to its historical character — or can even return the lobby to its original functions — how can we best address the crowding that occurs in the lobby at sold-out performances?”

A major contributor to overcrowding in the lobby is the concessions counters, which are a more recent addition to the theater. When the Panida was built in 1927, theaters didn’t offer food and drink on site. Patrons would bring in snacks or drinks from nearby restaurants — if food and drink were even allowed in the performance space. Today, concessions are a critical revenue source for all theaters, including the Panida. 

“So one big question is, how can we continue to offer and improve access by audiences to our food and drink concessions, while reducing the extreme crowding?” Behm stated.

Other goals with any lobby change are, if possible, to provide greater ingress and egress without blocking some of the foyer doors, as the current concessions do; uncover and feature the historical fountain in the lobby’s eastern wall that’s been obscured for decades; and provide a more spacious and dramatic entryway to the theater, as audiences would have experienced in the 1920s.

Behm said the theater board and staff have already held separate presentations of the different plans with Panida stakeholder and volunteer groups. The open house on Jan. 11 is an opportunity for general public comment before the board considers a decision at its regular Thursday, Feb. 6 meeting, which is also open to the public. 

“We’d love to see a great turnout from the community to see these plans and give us feedback,” Behm stated.

Panida board agendas and meetings are available on the “about” page at panida.org.