9 January 2023
Right after over a decade at the current location, the Columbia Children’s Theatre is obtaining stakes moving across the water. The long-running company is certainly vacating its home on the Richland Mall following the sale for that building. Their brand new home will be at the Brookland Lakeview Empowerment Center within West Columbia. “The shopping mall has been under contract most likely six times since we have been in here and its never been through, ” said CCT Creative Director Jerry Stevenson. “Once the sale went through we all got [notified that] they weren’t going to restore our lease because because they start construction, they don’t desire kids running around. “In revenge of the unceremonious end from the location, Stevenson says that it can be far from a rushed choice. The company has been in talks to transfer to a West Columbia room for several years. “It wasn’t because quick as it looks, inch he shared. “We acquired already scheduled some of the classes out there before we all got the news. “The movie theater has been living in transit because the start of the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the Richland Mall. Reconfigurations of the mall in the post-pandemic era left the movie theater with only one entrance, which through their backstage region. In response, they began web hosting pop-up performances Stevenson known as “movable feasts” in sites throughout the area. That’s very likely to continue even after the shift, with CCT hosting a few or all of their performances within their upcoming season at various venues around the city. The business eventually plans to build out there their own performance space for shows, but is improbable to have a permanent venue prior to shows begin in Sept. The CCT will begin web hosting all of its rehearsals plus classes in the new area at 1218 Batchelor St in West Columbia beginning on February 1 . “We want to be sure to say thank you towards the BLEC and the City of Western Columbia for making this expenditure in the future of our young artists, and to thank you once again just for everything that you do for CCT and for the arts within our community, ” the theatre shared in a statement. “Every day we wake up vitalized to support the next generation associated with young performers, and without your own support that simply may not be possible. “