Fischer Theatre Seeking More Exposure, Regional Relationships

 THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY

ABOVE: Nicole Van Hyfte inside the Fischer Theatre in Danville

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DANVILLE — It’s hard to compare community theaters and what they can offer the public. It’s not one size fits all.

As the Virginia Theatre in Champaign gets ready for renovations early next year, Fischer Theatre officials say the Virginia’s closure likely won’t affect the Danville theater much because of the limitations in what they can book.

So far, Executive Director Crystal Bivans and Development Director Nicole Van Hyfte said they’re not seeing additional inquiries from agents or groups looking for a venue.

“That’s a slow time anyway, so they were very wise in doing it in the winter months,” Bivans said. She said her question would be who are they not supporting, such as a symphony or something else, during that expected January through April timeframe?

The Fischer is not seeing additional sought-after bookings, Bivans said.

Van Hyfte said it’s been a goal of hers since coming on board in May to make regional relationships for theater staff to communicate with each other what’s going on and what could benefit all of them.

She said they could have an event where people could go visit all the local theaters to learn more about their history and unique features.

“I think there’s a lot of possibility there because there are so many historic theaters in our region,” Van Hyfte said.

Bivans said they also are involved with The League of Historic American Theatres. That is their networking club and there are online resources, she said.

“We just haven’t tapped into the local market,” Bivans said. “We’ve visited some theaters before … to kind of learn off of their operations, how are they doing it. And it’s pretty much the same. Our crew here is the smallest. Everybody is like, ‘I don’t know how you guys do it. You should have five or six people max.’”

It’s hard to co-op sometimes with theaters’ proximity to each other due to event riders about performance requirements not allowing shows so close in distance, she said.

Bivans said it will be interesting to see how the Virginia’s completed technical renovations next year affect the Fischer.

The Fischer Theatre, 158 N. Vermilion St. in downtown Danville, reopened in 2019 after restoration finally came to fruition thanks to support from the late Julius W. Hegeler II. The theater was built in 1884 as The Grand Opera House and closed when it was a movie house in 1982.

Movies and other events are taking place there again.

The Fischer is celebrating its 140th anniversary with a masquerade, black tie gala on Oct. 25. There will be music, a silent auction and tables of food. That will be their big fundraiser for the year. Tickets will be going on sale soon.

Nov. 5 is the Fischer Theatre’s actual birthday. There will be an open house that day with birthday cake. Also in November, they will be selling 140 tickets for $140 each and every day of the month is a chance to win a prize such as a cocktail party before a theater event or yoga on the stage with 10 of your friends and Taylorville tribute show tickets.

The Taylor Swift tribute show is going to be a big event for the Fischer and will likely sell out, they said.

The Fischer also is getting ready to kick off its fundraising season on Sept. 27 to raise at least $50,000. It will be showing the football movie “Varsity Blues” that night. Danville Area Community College will be bringing its pep band and cheerleaders.

Another fundraiser will be in the spring.

They are trying to raise funds for new seating in the theater. Another big project is digitalizing the marquee.

“There’s a lot of different things that we still need to do here with the renovations. We need green rooms. We need a lot of stuff,” Van Hyfte said, adding that the third and fourth floors haven’t really been touched.

Bivans said one of the big misconceptions about the Fischer, movie-wise, is they can’t run first-run movies. They don’t have the structure or capabilities to show them.

The Fischer doesn’t have a digital projector or appropriate sound system to meet movie companies’ qualifications. She said the companies too want $4,000 or $5,000.

Next steps

Regarding next steps and a priority list for renovations moving forward, “I think for me personally, importance, is the relevancy,” Bivans said. “I mean I know that’s a vague thing, but we need to get the Fischer back on the map. There’s so many things that we’re doing now, and it seems like we are running so hot, but people are still walking in the door going, ‘I haven’t been in here yet’ or ‘I didn’t know you guys were open’ or ‘I didn’t know you did that.’”

She said it’s about still getting their message out. The theater board is doing some strategic planning about who they are, what they’re doing. Is the Fischer a movie house? A live performance venue? Event center?

“All those things that get sprinkled in, where’s our focus need to be?” she asks.

“If there is a priority that I see from the public eye, our No. 1 complaint is the seating,” Bivans said.

People say the seating is old, uncomfortable and small.

Van Hyfte said they also really need a green room, or waiting room for acts, because there are certain performers who won’t come because the Fischer doesn’t have the space for them, it can’t support them. The Fischer uses the upstairs Portia Club and space is created.

“We do the best that we can,” she said.

Also, underneath the stage, water is coming in from the alley, which the city has plans to fix with its downtown grant. The elevator doesn’t go to the third floor of the theater either.

“There’s still a lot that needs to be done,” Van Hyfte said.

“We still desperately need help from the community, and we need the fundraising, and we need the grant writing.”

The Fischer also receives money from the Golden Nugget Danville Casino quarterly, Bivans said.

“I mean really, our ongoing and support is just the patrons coming in here,” she said.

The Fischer seats about 800.

Bivans said agents will reach out and say they have these acts and could they come through.

“Ninety percent of it is way out of our price range,” Bivans said. “We would love them, and it’d be cool to bring them to Danville but there’s no way.”

If they also were to try to make it work, ticket prices would be too high, she said.

They also can scout acts and negotiate from there.

The Fischer recently started sponsorships with the movies. An individual or business can sponsor a movie where it’s free to the community with a free popcorn. The sponsor can pick the movie, as long as the Fischer can get the licensing for it. The marquee too has the sponsor’s name in lights.