Downtown Provo’s facelift will receive an added bonus on Oct. 3 when a current theater makes waves in its new location. The Echo Theatre will be moving into the old Carnegie Building at 15 North and 100 East, next to Los Hermanos.
The idea of a theater began years ago as the childhood dream of a brother and sister, Matt Boulter and Juliana Blake. The dream became a reality when Jeff Blake, Juliana’s husband, joined with her and her brother to start the Echo Theatre in 2012.
“Growing up Matt and I talked about this dream of opening up an arts center,” said Juliana Blake, who works on the theater’s public relations along with being a co-owner. “We wanted to pass on the love of the arts to other people.”
The Echo Theatre originally opened in March of 2012 on University Avenue between two music venues. And while the intimate setting was great for the various plays the theater put on, the owners found the banging of heavy metal guitars during the climax of a melodrama to be a bit distracting for the audiences.
“The old space was a hole in the wall,” Juliana Blake said. “Literally, there were holes in the wall. We couldn’t do a whole lot. The new place is a beautiful building, part of the history of Provo. It makes it easier to do larger-scale shows while maintaining the intimate feel.”
The new space will include a proscenium stage with 150 seats and more ceiling room to allow the production team to do more with the sets and staging for productions.
“It means more growth,” said Boulter, who co-owns the theater along with the Blakes. “We realized in our other space we had grown as much as we could. We were held back by our location.”
Boulter expressed his excitement about the possibilities that the new space will provide them.
“With the new space we’re able to do different shows,” Boulter continued. “We feel more comfortable starting kids classes, and next summer we hope to start a kids summer camp.”
Blake said the Echo feels right at home in Provo
“This is a great place for it,” Juliana Blake said. “You have a wealth of talent and a lot of people who support it.”
The new Echo Theatre opens its season on Oct. 3 with a play “The Woman in Black,” just in time for the Halloween season. The hair-raising horror follows Arthur Kipps as he recounts his experiences with the woman in black and the terror she holds out among the salt marshes of a small English village. Tickets and more information can be found online at http://www.theechotheatre.com
