BOISE, Idaho — The Boise Contemporary Theatre is making a few upgrades to its home. They need to raise $3.3 million to do so.
The fundraising is part of their "Setting the Stage" campaign.
Since May of 2023, BCT has been silently fundraising, contacting local Idahoans for donations. They were able to raise roughly $1 million before launching the campaign publicly Friday.
Now, they're asking the public for the remaining $2 million.
The building is almost 100 years old. Before it was home to BCT, the building was a seed warehouse. The upgrades to the building will allow BCT to "enhance experiences" across the board according to Emily Mahon, the managing director of BCT.
She said they've already started construction work on Phase 1 of the project with the funds they've raised over the last year.
Phase 1 includes adding a new "Ghost Light Pub" where the old Shakespeare Festival Offices used to be inside the building. The Shakespeare Festival now has its own location elsewhere.
"We've taken that 1300 sq. foot space and gutted it and are renovating it into a pub with booths and a small stage and a bar and new bathrooms," Mahon told KTVB. "It's just a new space where we can invite people to come and gather before the shows and stay after the shows and keep the conversations going,"
The pub will serve beer and wine once it's finished. Their idea for the space is to also bring singer-songwriters or storytellers in on specific nights of the week.
BCT anticipates an opening of their new "Ghost Light Pub" to be sometime this December.
The next steps are to prepare for upgrades in the auditorium room and basement, Mahon said.
The seats in the auditorium are more than 50 years old and will be replaced, she said. With the upgrades, a new seating layout will arrive.
"We'll be able to utilize theater in the round," Mahon said. "We'll be able to do alley seating so that people are on either side, we can really transform the theater to a new 21st Century style of storytelling and make it whatever people need for their contemporary theater that's coming out in the future."
Additional upgrades will be made to the loft space, where rehearsals and education programs currently take place.
BCT said they expect to stay open during the whole process and construction. The auditorium, loft, and basement will start work in summer of 2025. They've planned construction work to only take place during their off seasons.
Everything should be finished by their 2026-2027 season, Mahon said. She added the renovations will help the BCT keep up with the growth Boise is experiencing and allow BCT to provide the quality they want in the future.
You can donate to the BCT on their website. Or contact them for a vision tour, where they'll show you around the space and answer questions about the renovation.