Sing for Their Supper - 7

Two weeks later, Tuck and Brent had the title to the property. Now came the hard part—turning the former restaurant into a theater, and then recruiting kids to become part of the theater's company.

Brent was friends with an architect, Tom Hanson, who was a patron of the theater where he and Tuck worked, so he set up an appointment to talk with the man. They arrived at his office with the floor plans for the restaurant and a few ideas of their own about what they wanted to do.

"What we're thinking," Brent said, after spreading the plans out on the work table in Hanson's office, "is to remove this wall to make the two dining rooms into the stage and auditorium area. We'll turn the kitchen into dressing rooms for the actors and use what used to be the entryway and bar as the theater's lobby."

"That could work, presuming that wall,"—Hanson tapped the one between the two dining rooms—"isn't load-bearing." He paused, then asked if they had interior photos of the building.

Brent rifled through the file he'd brought with them, found the photos, and gave them to Hanson.

"This wall, between the two doors, looks like it may have been added to separate the two rooms. It will take a good contractor to tell for certain." He smiled. "And I know just the man for the job."

"Of course you do," Brent said, grinning.

"You've forgotten one thing. You'll need a backstage area and scene and costume shops."

"We thought the costume shop could be in the basement," Tuck told him.

"The same goes for the dressing rooms," Hanson replied. "Turn the kitchen into the scene shop. That way it's on the same level as the stage. Flip the stage with the auditorium…" He got a large pad and did a quick sketch of what he meant.

Tuck studied it, then looked at Brent. "It would mean putting an aisle going past the stage, from the lobby to the auditorium. We'd lose a good…what? Five feet of stage area?" He glanced at Hanson.

"You would, but it would be worth it not to have to haul scenery up from the basement in pieces, given that the stairway is the normal three foot, six inches wide, according to the floor plans."

"I think we can afford to lose those five feet," Brent said.

They continued their discussion, with Hanson making suggestions on the interior design of the auditorium. By the time they finished, Tuck knew they were on the way to making their dream come true.