The Loudonville Village Office and Loudonville Theatre Building is, in the words of Mayor Betty Welsh, "beautiful, a building that deserves to be restored, maintained and used to the benefit of the community."

But achieving these objectives will take lots of work, lots of support, lots of vision, and lots of money, Welsh said.

"We are doing things right now to make it possible to offer live performances in the theatre as well as films," Welsh said. "These include installing new exit doors on all three levels, repairing damaged portions of the ceiling, and studying possible installation of restrooms (for performers and stage crew) in the stage area."

"Additionally, our Theatre Restoration Committee and our Recreation Board are on the right track in both promoting theatre uses, studying other restorations, and planning events for the facility," Welsh said.

But what the village is doing right now barely scratches the surface as far as a complete restoration of the building.

Mayor Welsh and Maintenance Superintendent Roy Wilson described some of the many structural challenges involved in the 1909 edifice.

"We have had some shifting in the major trim work, a combination of wood and plaster, in the huge decorative frame (the proscenium arch) that surrounds the stage/screen area," Wilson said. "At this point we don't know what is causing the shifting, and if it is a problem which might affect the structural integrity of the entire building."

Wilson also commented "all of the historic, high windows on the south side of the building should be replaced. Not only are they unneeded, since no one can look out of them any more, but they are tremendous sources of heat loss. Similarly, some of the old cuts and doorways in the stage area are major heat loss points."

On the inside of the theatre, brick work in the 90-plus year old structure is in surprisingly good shape, but exterior brick is badly in need of repointing and other repairs, Welsh said.

"The roof has been maintained over the years, and is in pretty good shape right now," she added.

"One thing I would like to see changed is the configuration around the projectionist room," Welsh said. "One of our past theatre operators expanded the projection room about 20 years ago, and in doing so, cut the upper tier of balcony seats apart. The only way you can get to the north side seats on the upper level is through the projection room, leaving us, if we ever had a huge crowd, with seating for 30 or so people which is inaccessible. But changing this, like many other improvements, would be very costly."

Another physical factor in dire need of rework is the wiring. "Looking at all of the old wiring that serves the stage area is scary," Welsh said. "We have engineers working on it, but at this point, we're not entirely sure what all needs done."

Despite the huge challenges, Welsh is very upbeat about theatre restoration.

"This is a neat old building, and the community needs to be more aware of the treasure it has here," the Mayor said. "I would eventually like to see it converted into a community service type building, with meeting rooms, offices for community groups, public restrooms, etc. It really is no longer conducive to serve as a village office."

A walk to the compartments behind the movie screen in the building gives the viewer an eerie, haunting view of past efforts at entertainment.

The ceiling above the stage soars at least 50 feet high, offering an unbelievably large amount of enclosed space, known, by theatre buffs, as the "fly space." At each end of the stage there are enclosed wooden staircases, three flights on each side, which climb to up above the stage. At one time, Wilson noted, "I think there were dressing rooms up there."

Above these dressing rooms fixed wooden ladders climb all the way to the ceiling, up to where props were lowered to the stage far below. Just looking up to the soaring ceiling, so high in the enclosed space, is dizzying.

Back to the stage level and below, old stage restrooms were carved out of tiny brick spaces. Consideration is being made to reinstalling facilities in them, but Welsh commented "there's not much room for them."

Also in the stage area old movie advertising posters, and hand made signs for past live performances hang or stand on some of the walls. A dinosaur of an old furnace, probably long inoperative, stands in the cavern-like basement under the stage. Another smallish, strange compartment is in the back of the basement, probably at one time another dressing room. Another passage way to the front of the basement leads to the orchestra pit.

One gets to the basement down at best rickety--and uneven--steps, steps that would horrify contemporary inspectors from OSHA and similar agencies.

Welsh said one avenue to restoration would be for the village to obtain a historic building preservation grant.