A grand debut: The Dixon Historic Theatre undergoing renovations, preparing for big 2025 season

DIXON — The Dixon: Historic Theatre is gearing up for one of its biggest seasons yet, with over a million dollars in restoration work and approximately 70 events planned for the 2025 season.

Darren Mangler is the theater’s executive director and artistic producer. He said work on the 102-year-old theater’s $1.5 million restoration project began Oct. 1, 2024, and is expected to finish in March 2025. Theater Board President Mike Venier said the project was funded through multiple revenue sources, including a $1.2 million federal grant, which required a $300,000 match.

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A masonry worker tuck points the roof of The Dixon: Historic Theatre on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. A renovation of the historic Dixon building is well underway. (Alex T. Paschal)

“The city and the county each contributed $100,000 to the theater,” Venier said. “The rest came from ticket sales, theater profits and private donations.”

Mangler said Berglund Construction is tuck pointing around the roof, taking out mortar and replacing bad bricks to support the building’s new roof.

“The new roof is coming on Tuesday and will be dropped in using a crane,” Mangler said Monday. “They said it should take less than a month to finish the roof, which is good because we want to get ahead of the bad weather.”

Once the roof is replaced, Mangler said, the focus can shift to work inside the theater.

“All of the replacement that we have to do towards the ceiling, all the painting, getting rid of anything with lead in it, that all has to pause until the roof is secure because if there were any leaks or drainage, it could ruin the work that we do in here,” Mangler said. “So, we gotta do the outside first. Now, there are things that we can do until then, such as redoing both bathrooms to make them more accessible for everyone.”

Mangler said the theater will also take this time to address an issue discovered near “The Wings of Freedom” statue next to the building. Mangler said a sewage drain was discovered there.

“It had been covered up with dirt, the grass had grown over it, and all of that runoff had been hitting our wall for a couple of decades. So, that’s why our wall is so bad because water has been smashing into it for so long. Now that we found that drain, water is no longer touching us, and we can replace that wall. Now, we don’t have to worry about that happening again.”

In addition to all of the structural work, the inside of the 900-seat theater will be completely repainted.

“We’re bringing in blues and reds that were in the original paint scheme back in 1922,” Mangler said. “It’s going to be gorgeous. It’s going to be much darker, which is beneficial for theater, especially since we’re going to be doing around 10 different plays and musicals next year.”

The theater is gearing up for a range of events in 2025, including two touring shows, three original musicals and four children’s performances. Other highlights include the Dixon Municipal Band’s seasonal concerts, performances from the Eastman School of Dance, stand-up comedy shows, movie nights, a USO show for veterans, and the return of video game tournaments on the big screen.

Mangler said there are also 15 tribute bands set to take the stage, and plans to draw in larger acts, such as Lone Star, are underway. He also plans to put together a local theater company.

“We have a national tour coming in called ‘Spamilton,’ which is a spoof on ‘Hamilton,’” Mangler said. “It’s a national Broadway touring company that will be here on Sunday, March 2, and that will be our grand opening.”