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Resident urges county to convert high school auditorium for community theater use
Summary
A local resident asked the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors to terminate a contract with a private lessee and prioritize theater-first, multipurpose use of the county high school auditorium to support youth performing arts.
Sarah Connor, a resident of Appomattox, asked the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors on the public-appearance portion of its meeting to consider terminating a private contract and redesigning the high school auditorium to prioritize theater and community programming.
Connor said she did not come seeking county funds for a theater program at this time but asked the board to end the contract with “Mister Boone” so the auditorium could serve as a multipurpose space for theater, movie showings, larger meetings, concerts and award ceremonies.
The request grew out of Connor’s account of two students from Appomattox County High School: one who left and later returned to found a local theater organization, Wolfbank, and another — Connor herself — who pursued theater education after discovering performing-arts classes had been cut. “I am not here to ask the board for funding to restart the program yet,” Connor said. “I am here to ask that the board consider terminating their contract with mister Boone to turn that auditorium … into a multipurpose auditorium space. And when I say that, I mean a space that is for theater first and foremost.”
During the supervisor concerns portion of the meeting, board members referenced prior presentations about the auditorium and stressed it should be a community asset rather than limited to a single lessee. A supervisor said the earlier proposal three years ago envisioned the auditorium being available to multiple community groups, not just the named lessee, and said the county would continue seeking investors or partners if current plans do not work out.
No formal motion or vote related to the auditorium or the requested contract termination was recorded in the transcript. The matter remained a request from a resident and a topic of supervisory comment; the board did not take formal action at this meeting.
If the board pursues changes to an existing lease or contract, that would appear as a future agenda item requiring formal motion and a recorded vote.
