Joe and Sheila Markley were guest speakers at the July 26 Celebration of Optimism held at the Hampton Inn in Junction City. Joe is the Director and Sheila the Director of Development at the C.L. Hoover Opera House. Sheila stated that both she and Joe are “retired vocal music teachers and managing the Opera House and the adding on of room to the building has been a learning experience.”
The Opera House is celebrating its 125th year. Following a water leak on Christmas Eve of last year, restoration and clean up has been taking place.
Joe said that “one of their goals has been to involve more young people and their families in productions and events at the Opera House. We started with the after-school program for middle schoolers and are now offering private lessons.” The Junction City Little Theater, Arts Council and Community Band use the facility and there are rooms which can be rented. He continued to state that “we needed more room and came up with a plan. The plan was put in place and the building to the east of the Opera House was purchased to add dressing rooms, restrooms, a remodel of the current kitchen space to become a Green Room (a space for performers to wait until it is their turn to go on stage) and spaces in the addition which will allow more flexibility when there is more than one activity going on at the same time. This is a 2.5-million-dollar project paid for by generous donations from the Karen Salyers and Nellie Smith estates, donations by businesses and individual community members, the city, and the county. The city of Junction City will own the entire complex once the construction is completed.”
The Fall Season at the C.L. Hoover Opera House includes Junction City Little Theater’s production of Murder on the Orient Express in August and Jersey Boys in November. Kelley Hunt will perform soulful repertoire of soul, blues, funk and gospel-inspired music in September, The World-Famous Glen Miller Big Band will perform in October. In December there will be three shows. Those are A Carpenter’s Christmas, Elf jr. The Musical and the 1st Infantry Division Band.
Tickets for many of the shows will not be for sale until after September 10th . For more information call 785-238-3906.