SRO Theater proposes performing arts center to Yelm City Council

In an effort to further expand the art of theater for Yelm and surrounding cities, Standing Room Only (SRO) Theater sis seeking the development of a performing arts center.

Supporters brought a proposal to the Yelm City Council during a study session on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
Steve Harshfield, president of SRO Theater, has long sought a permanent location for the community-based organization to call home after years of sharing its location with Yelm’s Outpost Church.

“I was in front of you guys six months ago having a very similar conversation. I was asked to come back and flesh that out a little,” Harshfield said. “One of the biggest challenges is most of the grants the city and up level, foundational level, they want you to control the property. The only way to control the property is to either have it donated to you or find some other source of funding so you can have control of that property. That’s one of the things we’ve been contending with the last few years, and it’s one of the things we continue to work towards.”

According to Harshfield, the last time SRO Theater presented to the Yelm City Council, the organization was “80% of the way there” to purchase the Lutheran Church near Les Schwab, but noted “unfortunately not much has changed.”
Councilor Terry Kaminski asked Harshfield if by stating the organization “must control the property,” does it mean they would have to own it? He said no, leading to the councilor asking if the church could lease him the property.

“When we went to them with our proposal last year to purchase it, it was literally in the 11th hour when they said ‘let’s run this by the lawyers.’ We had a $1.5 million low cost loan, through the state, whose main objective is to develop things like this within rural communities like ours. We’re just trying to find a way to bridge that gap of about $300,000. We’re this close with the owner who said he would own or carry it — he just wanted to throw it to his lawyer,” Harshfield said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges we have. I would love all day long to sign a $300,000 loan that I feel very passionate about. My biggest fear is if I walk out that door and get hit by a bus, my family would then be on the hook for $300,000.”

According to the SRO Theater president, the property sits on a 5-acre plot of land, and the organization is highly interested in it since it’s a former church. As soon as the organization receives the key to the property, Harshfield said there would be clear efforts toward creating a hub for theater events.

“We would go very hard,” Harshfield said. “As soon as we turned the key on that, day one, regardless of its situation, we know we do have some things we need to do on the interior to prepare it for the general public. But it would be an easy benefit to bring the general public in day one and say, ‘this is what we have to work with, and these are the chunks we want to start focusing on.’”

From that point, Harshfield said the organization would continue working with the partnerships they’ve made over the last several years at the city, county and state levels — and with the Nisqually Indian Reservation.

“There is an underlying swell of potential funding within this community. It’s just dragging them out of their houses to see those opportunities, instead of just putting these plans in front of them and saying ‘this is what we’d like to do — can you help?’ I’m coming before you guys to flesh it out. SRO did submit an application to the outside agency funding for a $12,000 per year investment to help continue to elevate the arts,” he said. “We have continued to flesh out our offerings. This past summer we had the PLAY program, which brought in 40 youths between seven and 11. For a few hours each day for a few weeks, we taught them theater and arts.

“Those are the kinds of things we want to continue offering,” he continued. “We’ve talked to YARD about potentially partnering for drama classes after school from a very basic level to high school level and beyond, to help bridge that gap we’re finding ourselves with after the triple levy failure. But we also want to give kids who might not have access to those programs, or might be in a different stage of their life outside of school.”

The longtime SRO Theater president sees an opportunity for folks outside of Yelm to travel into the city to view performances if and when a performing arts center is developed in Yelm.