EDITORIAL: Promise of performing arts means it's time to seek another venue
This week’s announcement that the Waco Hippodrome Theatre was closing its doors, possibly forever, is disheartening but hardly surprising. In recent years, the Waco Performing Arts Company that managed the Hippodrome has struggled financially, plagued by capricious audience whims, erratic programming and a creaky, outmoded building lacking in so many ways but for the fact it reflects a piece of our heritage.
The time has come to place sentiments aside and face the music.
Mayor Virginia DuPuy on Friday described the Hippodrome’s closure as a “huge bump in the road” — no doubt a keen reflection on its importance as a venue for the performing arts, a crucial component in reinvigorating downtown. We agree. However, that bump in the road shouldn’t be the old theater but, rather, what we can do to ensure the performing arts continue to have a vivid presence that bolsters our city, buoys our souls and makes us think.
To seek new ways to again prop up what is clearly a money pit — plagued by everything from a leaky roof to uncomfortable seating to inadequate toilet facilities — is foolish. Even the Hippodrome stage is a source of recurring problems. We’re reminded of the time the touring musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” became, however briefly, “Seven Brides for Six Brothers” after one of the dancers was hurt trying to dance on a stage too small.
We want a healthy performing arts scene downtown, but we also recognize Waco has not always been quick to support the arts as vigorously as residents might like to believe. That means the idea of building a new performing arts venue is probably unrealistic, at least at this point in time.
Perhaps the time is right to survey our surroundings, take a second look at other structures near or in the downtown area and consider their usefulness as dynamic venues for the performing arts.
Our community has rallied to the cause of the Waco Hippodrome Theatre previously, but this cannot continue — not if the very arts themselves are to finally flourish here.
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