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Elsinore turns to community for help to stay alive until the curtain can go up again

Tom Fohn, executive director of the Elsinore Theatre, stands on stage next to the theatre’s ghost light on Monday, Nov. 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

The performance venue at the Elsinore Theatre is in danger of closing for good unless enough money is raised to keep it going.

Ticket sales cover about 90% of the theatre’s overall budget but that money has disappeared since the pandemic required the cancellation of events and performances, prevented the showing of 54 holiday classic movies, and otherwise restricted attendance, said Executive Director Tom Fohn.

About 64,000 people attended performances during the 2017-18 year, and 67,000 were on hand during the 2018-19 production year.

With the theatre’s shuttering since March 11, performances over the holidays of “Dear Paranoia” featuring hypnosis and improvisation, “Wardruna” and the Glenn Miller Orchestra were all canceled. Some of the productions have been rescheduled for next year but plans to reopen the theater in 2021 “dwindle each day,” he said. A target date to resume scheduling hasn’t been set.

Now the nonprofit theatre is being forced to seek community financial help through donations and with the sale of a custom holiday bottle of wine.

“When the pandemic brought our season to a screeching halt, my team made so many different plans to welcome people back but each time the virus dictated we cancel them,” Fohn said. “We’ve always wanted to earn revenue by operating so that we didn’t have to ask for help, but that’s now changed.”

To contribute to the Bring the Elsinore Back to Live campaign, donations can be made at the theatre website: elsinoretheatre.com or by mailing a check to 170 High St. S.E., Salem, OR 97302.

Gifts can be designated in someone’s honor or memory with notification cards sent.

“Any amount helps,” he said.

To raise additional funds, the theatre is partnering with Willamette Valley Vineyards to produce a bottle of wine whose label features the mural that dominates the back of the Elsinore building. The “Theatrical Heartscape” was done by James Mattingly in 1984.

The bottles are available for purchase and pickup beginning hopefully this week. None can be shipped.

For information about the cost of the wine and to place an order call the Elsinore at 503-375-3574.

Some proceeds from wine sales will be placed in a restricted fund to help maintain the mural.

Next year, the theatre plans to launch a different funding request for building maintenance.

During a normal year, the Elsinore’s budget is “north” of $2 million, according to Fohn.

“I do want to make it clear that other than the fees we pay to touring artists, the majority of this money stays in our community.

“We rely on our local partners to produce the caliber of shows that we couldn’t pull together without their help. I’m talking about companies like Roth’s, which does our catering, the Grand Hotel that hosts most of our artists and local production companies like Allied Video and Cascade Sound,” he said.

Funds also cover the salaries of the nine employees currently working.

“If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, that number would be closer to 30,” Fohn said. The total can jump to 75 positions during big shows and theatrical productions.

The Elsinore also relies heavily on volunteers to keep the organization running. Around 170 volunteers give a total of more than 8,000 hours during a normal year.

They work the box office, take tickets, sell concessions, usher, host receptions and help process bottle and can recycling.

The Jinx and Gary Brandt family of Salem has made volunteering at the theatre a top priority for about 25 years.

“There’s something particularly satisfying to participate in something home grown. I love the Wednesday night movies because I learn a lot about the history of film, especially when Chemeketa Community College produces commentaries,” Jinx Brandt said.

She recalled when their sons, Alex and Andy, starting at ages 10 and 8, helped out during Tuba Christmas performances.

Gary Brandt said he enjoys seeing familiar faces in the audience, and his favorite performances over the years include The Trail Band, Imago, The Chinese Acrobats and attending high school graduations. 

Both the Brandts were teachers.

The nearly 1,300-seat Elsinore Theatre opened in May 1926 for vaudeville shows and silent films.

The building, which was named after the 16th-century Danish castle in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and cost about $250,000, was considered the largest and most lavish theater between Portland and San Francisco.

As movie audiences declined, there was talk of demolishing the structure to make way for a parking lot. But local preservationists stepped forward in 1980 raising about $130,000 for restoration.

Later, the Salem Theatre Auditorium Group Enterprises bought the structure and converted it into a performing arts center complete with a “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ similar to the original, which was dismantled in 1962.

The lobby of the Elsinore Theatre in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

Stained glass art in the lobby of the Elsinore Theatre in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

The Elsinore Theatre, in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. Because of the pandemic, the theatre remains quiet. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

The Elsinore Theatre, in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

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