History
On May 12, 1925, Winchester's newest motion picture house opened with the movie, "The Crowded Hour," starring Bebe Daniels. Admission prices were 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children in the afternoons and 30 cents for adults and 10 cents for children in the evenings.
The theatre was without a name for two months until a theatre-naming contest was held for the purpose of choosing a distinctive name of one word not exceeding ten letters. The winning name, Leeds, is presumed to be an arrangement of the letters in the name of S.D. Lee, who was president of the Winchester Amusement Company, owner of the theatre, at the time.
John W. Moore, a Winchester-Lexington architect, designed the theatre in the style of Art Deco, a popular architectural and decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. The theatre was built by Winchester contractor Leon Wheeler on land which, according to records in the Clark County Clerk's office, was once the site of the Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church parsonage.
Chakeres Theatres, Inc., of Springfield, Ohio, leased the theatre in 1943 and purchased the property in 1945. Chakeres closed the Leeds on July 14, 1986. Then was born the dream for the Performing Arts Center.
On August 12, 1986, The Winchester Council for the Arts was formed with the goal of saving the theatre, a downtown landmark for 3 quarters of a century. An anonymous benefactor agreed to contribute $75,000 to the project if the community could match that amount within 4 months. Through fundraisers, donations from the members of the community, membership drives, workshops and the initial support of Citizens Fidelity Bank, the $75,000 was matched.
Renovation began in July of 1989 with financial help from local banks and Sherrod Construction. In December of 1990, the Winchester Council for the Arts officially opened The Leeds Theatre and Performing Arts Center to the community. |
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Stage & House Information
The Leeds Center for the Arts was originally a movie theater built in the early 1920s. It was restored and renovated in July of 1990. The full seating capacity holds 400 patrons with 190 seats on the main level 210 seats in the balcony.
The stage is a proscenium thrust approximately 38' wide x 28' deep. The stage floor is a wooden sprung floor, flat and always painted black. There is approximately 8' from the front curtain line to the edge of the stage.
There is a small orchestra pit area located on the house level down in front of the stage. It is approximately 30' wide x 7' deep and 4' down from the front edge of the stage. This space is very close to the first row of seats.
The support space is upstage of the actual performing space. With the rear curtain in its furthest upstage position, it is approximately 26' wide x 11 1/2' deep. There is a mechanical room that hangs over this space measuring approximately 14' wide x 10' deep with the head clearance of about 7'. There is access to a bathroom, sink with hot and cold water, and a water fountain in this space. Also, there is an exit from the rear of the building to the back parking lot. The original proscenium divides the performing space from the backstage support space. There is a front act curtain that operates by floor tension pulley. Made of black velour, it sits approximately 8' back from the downstage edge of the stage. Also, there are black velour legs, rear curtain and a natural muslin cyclorama.
The control booth is in the rear of the balcony approximately 50' from the edge of the stage. This is usually the best position to call a show. It also houses the control equipment for sound, stage lighting and house dimmer controls. There is an open pipe grid approximately 17 1/2' above the stage floor containing access to 66 circuits and 12 circuits in the house. There is a Clear-Com system installed to provide communication between the booth operators, in-house and backstage personnel. There is a telephone installed in the control booth that has intercom capability with the House Manager.
The main loading doors into the theatre are located stage left of the performing space in front of the curtain line. There are double doors approximately 6' wide x 7' tall. Also, a single rear door exits into the rear parking lot. |
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