"thE Dufwin Theater will be a BIG benefit and opportunity to OSA. The plan is to have most if not all the arts in the Dufwin Theater, and all the academics in our current building, The Fox."--Lucy Dennis, 6th Grade
The Dufwin Theater
By Lucy Dennis
The subject of the Dufwin Theater has traveled across OSA students’ emails. It’s been pondered at PTSA (Parent-Teacher-Student-Association) meetings. It’s been contemplated by the Student Council. That’s why, many students have many questions about this theater. We have heard of the potential purchase of this building. If we do get this building, this will be a BIG benefit and opportunity to OSA. The plan is to have most if not all the arts in the Dufwin Theater, and all the academics in our current building, The Fox. “The plan is for dance to stay here because they have a nice dance studio and production design to stay here because they have the black box. But even those that aren't moving are going to benefit because production design will get the fashion design classroom,” explains Mike Oz. Many people are excited about this chance to expand our community. There are so many things we could do with this possible new space. But before we jump straight to that, let’s talk more about the history of the Dufwin Theater.
The History of the Dufwin Theater
The Dufwin Theater was named after the two owners, Henry Duffy, and his wife Dale Winter, who was an actress at the theater. That is why it’s called Duf-win, it’s a mix of the couple’s names. Henry Duffy rented nine theatres in which his actors would stage performances. “For the first two years of his job, Dufwin hosted Henry Duffy's company. His first performance there was a play called "In Love with Love." During the Great Depression, Duffy and Winter encountered serious financial problems, forcing their acting and theatre to fail. Management of the Dufwin was replaced, and after movies started to become popular, the theater became refocused to show films,” says PCAD (Pacific Coast Architecture Database.) It was renamed the "Roxie Theatre.” The Roxie Theater closed sometime in the early 1980s and converted into office space in 1983, and then was renamed again, back into its original name, “Dufwin Theater.”
The Dufwin Theater is made out of stone. In the front, there is decorative tile artwork, and a sign that says the name of the theater. “Each of the 7 floors is between 6 and 10,000 square feet. If you total all of our space here, we're doubling the school’s size,” says Mr. Oz in his interview. The building itself has a kitchen, a balcony, a few elevators, a basement, and a few bathrooms. There are several rooms on the first floor, and one room on each floor through floors 2-7, so we would most likely have one art on each floor/room. The theater is a really beautiful, professional space. “Mahogany doors lead from the outside in the foyer with the walls in soapstone and with an arched ceiling of Pomepeiian red, blue and green and with a plaster frieze in bright colors. The foyer will serve as the promenade between acts and is decorated in rose ivory with a red and black carpet and with furniture of handsome carved walnut,” says the PCAD. In OSA’s Virtual Tour, It shows huge, elegant windows that are just perfect. Altogether, it’s a really beautiful, spacious building and a great opportunity for OSA.
Why Do We Need This Building?
Why do we need this building? “It will provide an opportunity to significantly improve both our arts and academic programs in the years ahead while providing our teachers the instructional spaces they need and deserve,” says Mr. Oz in his email about the Dufwin Theater. “[OSA] needs more space, because we share so many classrooms.” Think about it. We already have to share Theater with math, Literary Arts with science, Vocal Music with English, and more. Kids and teachers don’t want to move desks aside to rehearse for a play, constantly rewrite the lesson on the whiteboards so they can teach, or just not have enough time and space to teach. We need a bigger, more spread out environment, so that teachers can teach the lessons they want to teach. Having a bigger environment will also support students, too. If teachers have more space, teachers can do bigger projects, without having to clean it up every single period. Students might even learn more if teachers can do better, bigger, and more efficient classroom environments.
Another reason that Dufwin could be a great opportunity for us is collaboration with other arts. “The idea with the new building is that [if we have Dufwin], we keep all the Arts classes next to each other, instead of apart from each other. [For example], to collaborate with instrumental music and vocal music, all you have to do is go up a flight of stairs,” says Mr. Oz. Collaboration could help OSA produce more shows, and maybe even better shows. For example, what if instrumental music created original songs for vocal to sing? Then both would benefit. Instrumental would get to practice their songwriting skills, and vocal would be more challenging, and maybe push the vocal students more, because of the task of performing an original song. But if we tried to collaborate without the Dufwin Theater, vocal music would have to walk all the way from the Fox to Newberry. It isn’t that long of a walk, but it would be really reliable to have the Dufwin Theater, and just have to walk down or up a flight of stairs.
The Cost
So how are we actually going to pay for this grand 63,200-square-foot building? “OSA has a huge opportunity to buy a nearby facility and finally build out the specialized art space we’ve needed for years. After almost 23 years of making do without a space that fully matches our program, this purchase would be a big step forward for OSA,” says Mr. Oz in an email about Dufwin. But, in order to pay for this new building, we are sadly going to have to sacrifice Newberry, and the Visual Arts Studio. As Mr. Oz says the reason for this is because, “The monthly expense for this building is roughly the same as the cost of the buildings that were going to be no longer having. In other words, to be in Newberry, and the Visual Arts Studio, that combined cost is about the same as it cost to be in this much bigger building that we would actually be purchasing.” Thankfully, we will not have to give up Sweets Ballroom.
In an interview, Mr. Oz says that currently, “We're in a due diligence period right now. We've come to an agreement on a prize, signed a contract, put a down payment and that, and then we have 45 days to go and look at the building and make sure everything is [working correctly.] That 45-day due diligence period ends mid April, and then we will hopefully own Dufwin.” But how did we even get to this due diligence period? Mr. Oz explains that “Having raised the $150,000 in February allowed us to enter the agreement and make the first refundable deposit payment.” “It's not ready for all of our classes to move in, so we're going to be fundraising to do the improvements that need to be done to really build it out over the next few years,” says Mr. Oz. Visual Arts will then most likely move in first. If you want this amazing building, you should donate to OSA.
By Lucy Dennis
The subject of the Dufwin Theater has traveled across OSA students’ emails. It’s been pondered at PTSA (Parent-Teacher-Student-Association) meetings. It’s been contemplated by the Student Council. That’s why, many students have many questions about this theater. We have heard of the potential purchase of this building. If we do get this building, this will be a BIG benefit and opportunity to OSA. The plan is to have most if not all the arts in the Dufwin Theater, and all the academics in our current building, The Fox. “The plan is for dance to stay here because they have a nice dance studio and production design to stay here because they have the black box. But even those that aren't moving are going to benefit because production design will get the fashion design classroom,” explains Mike Oz. Many people are excited about this chance to expand our community. There are so many things we could do with this possible new space. But before we jump straight to that, let’s talk more about the history of the Dufwin Theater.
The History of the Dufwin Theater
The Dufwin Theater was named after the two owners, Henry Duffy, and his wife Dale Winter, who was an actress at the theater. That is why it’s called Duf-win, it’s a mix of the couple’s names. Henry Duffy rented nine theatres in which his actors would stage performances. “For the first two years of his job, Dufwin hosted Henry Duffy's company. His first performance there was a play called "In Love with Love." During the Great Depression, Duffy and Winter encountered serious financial problems, forcing their acting and theatre to fail. Management of the Dufwin was replaced, and after movies started to become popular, the theater became refocused to show films,” says PCAD (Pacific Coast Architecture Database.) It was renamed the "Roxie Theatre.” The Roxie Theater closed sometime in the early 1980s and converted into office space in 1983, and then was renamed again, back into its original name, “Dufwin Theater.”
The Dufwin Theater is made out of stone. In the front, there is decorative tile artwork, and a sign that says the name of the theater. “Each of the 7 floors is between 6 and 10,000 square feet. If you total all of our space here, we're doubling the school’s size,” says Mr. Oz in his interview. The building itself has a kitchen, a balcony, a few elevators, a basement, and a few bathrooms. There are several rooms on the first floor, and one room on each floor through floors 2-7, so we would most likely have one art on each floor/room. The theater is a really beautiful, professional space. “Mahogany doors lead from the outside in the foyer with the walls in soapstone and with an arched ceiling of Pomepeiian red, blue and green and with a plaster frieze in bright colors. The foyer will serve as the promenade between acts and is decorated in rose ivory with a red and black carpet and with furniture of handsome carved walnut,” says the PCAD. In OSA’s Virtual Tour, It shows huge, elegant windows that are just perfect. Altogether, it’s a really beautiful, spacious building and a great opportunity for OSA.
Why Do We Need This Building?
Why do we need this building? “It will provide an opportunity to significantly improve both our arts and academic programs in the years ahead while providing our teachers the instructional spaces they need and deserve,” says Mr. Oz in his email about the Dufwin Theater. “[OSA] needs more space, because we share so many classrooms.” Think about it. We already have to share Theater with math, Literary Arts with science, Vocal Music with English, and more. Kids and teachers don’t want to move desks aside to rehearse for a play, constantly rewrite the lesson on the whiteboards so they can teach, or just not have enough time and space to teach. We need a bigger, more spread out environment, so that teachers can teach the lessons they want to teach. Having a bigger environment will also support students, too. If teachers have more space, teachers can do bigger projects, without having to clean it up every single period. Students might even learn more if teachers can do better, bigger, and more efficient classroom environments.
Another reason that Dufwin could be a great opportunity for us is collaboration with other arts. “The idea with the new building is that [if we have Dufwin], we keep all the Arts classes next to each other, instead of apart from each other. [For example], to collaborate with instrumental music and vocal music, all you have to do is go up a flight of stairs,” says Mr. Oz. Collaboration could help OSA produce more shows, and maybe even better shows. For example, what if instrumental music created original songs for vocal to sing? Then both would benefit. Instrumental would get to practice their songwriting skills, and vocal would be more challenging, and maybe push the vocal students more, because of the task of performing an original song. But if we tried to collaborate without the Dufwin Theater, vocal music would have to walk all the way from the Fox to Newberry. It isn’t that long of a walk, but it would be really reliable to have the Dufwin Theater, and just have to walk down or up a flight of stairs.
The Cost
So how are we actually going to pay for this grand 63,200-square-foot building? “OSA has a huge opportunity to buy a nearby facility and finally build out the specialized art space we’ve needed for years. After almost 23 years of making do without a space that fully matches our program, this purchase would be a big step forward for OSA,” says Mr. Oz in an email about Dufwin. But, in order to pay for this new building, we are sadly going to have to sacrifice Newberry, and the Visual Arts Studio. As Mr. Oz says the reason for this is because, “The monthly expense for this building is roughly the same as the cost of the buildings that were going to be no longer having. In other words, to be in Newberry, and the Visual Arts Studio, that combined cost is about the same as it cost to be in this much bigger building that we would actually be purchasing.” Thankfully, we will not have to give up Sweets Ballroom.
In an interview, Mr. Oz says that currently, “We're in a due diligence period right now. We've come to an agreement on a prize, signed a contract, put a down payment and that, and then we have 45 days to go and look at the building and make sure everything is [working correctly.] That 45-day due diligence period ends mid April, and then we will hopefully own Dufwin.” But how did we even get to this due diligence period? Mr. Oz explains that “Having raised the $150,000 in February allowed us to enter the agreement and make the first refundable deposit payment.” “It's not ready for all of our classes to move in, so we're going to be fundraising to do the improvements that need to be done to really build it out over the next few years,” says Mr. Oz. Visual Arts will then most likely move in first. If you want this amazing building, you should donate to OSA.
A concept of the future Dufwin Theater
