The Champaign Park District has joined in a community project to save one of its prized historic landmarks, the Virginia Theatre. The Virginia Theatre has a great history and has touched many lives in its 79-year existence. The following are just a few of the performers who have appeared at the theatre: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Red Skelton, Will Rogers, W.C. Fields, and the Marx Brothers. This historic jewel is also where film critic Roger Ebert cultivated his passion for the silver screen.

In response to community request and in an effort to preserve the vast history of the Virginia Theatre, the Champaign Park District acquired the theatre in January 2000 and began the process of renovating the historic facility. This rehabilitation project will transform a 1921 theatre into a performing arts and entertainment facility accessible by all citizens. The renovation will create a cost-effective meeting place that will have a positive economic impact on downtown Champaign.

The auditorium size of this 1,548-seat theatre makes it suitable for conventions, thus promoting tourism in East Central Illinois. Currently, Champaign does not have a civic-use meeting or performance space. As such, the restoration of the Virginia Theatre will help build a stronger sense of community for Champaign County.

As stated in its mission, the Virginia Theatre is dedicated to creating and sustaining an environment conducive to education in the performing arts; fostering creativity in the production and presentation of music, theatre, dance and film; and establishing the Virginia Theatre as a civic-use meeting space and center for performing arts and entertainment for Champaign-Urbana and its visitors. The Virginia Theatre also serves as a home to the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company, a not-for-profit organization that provides opportunities for community theatre in East Central Illinois.

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The Virginia Theatre is one of the few venues of its kind that has remained in continuous operation.

Edfors Named Virginia Theatre Director

In March of 2000, Barbara Edfors was named the director of the Virginia Theatre for the Champaign Park District. Edfors is responsible for the overall operation of the historic Virginia Theatre including staff supervision, budget management, development, facility scheduling, public relations, booking, and contract negotiation. She works directly with the Virginia Theatre Advisory Committee regarding the programming, restoration, and operation of the theatre.

Edfors previously served as the Theatre/Facility Services Coordinator at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, a 3,600-seat historic theatre, where her responsibilities included facility scheduling, event coordination, budget management, and booking. She was present at the Civic Opera House during its $100 million renovation, a project that allowed the booking of outside events to become a new source of income for the Lyric Opera.

Prior to serving at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she was the Assistant General Manager of the Shubert Theatre, Chicago. She also served as the Producing Director of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and as a fund-raising volunteer for Light Opera Works, Evanston.

Edfors received her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Illinois and M.A. in Arts Management from Columbia College, Chicago. 

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In December of 1999, the Champaign Park District received a $900,000 Illinois FIRST grant for rehabilitation of the theatre. At present, the district has also received a $50,000 donation from the Champaign News-Gazette (a regional newspaper) to restore the projection booth, a $5,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Champaign County to kick-off the capital campaign, as well as a $3,000 grant from Illinois Power to restore the marquee. The district has also received great support from the organizations and people who had previously made loans to the theatre. As a result, the Virginia Theatre’s outstanding debt has been reduced from $1,005,000 to approximately $265,000.

Because the entire renovation of the Virginia Theatre is extensive, the restoration of the theatre will be broken into four smaller phases. The first phase primarily covered structural repairs and life safety issues and took place from January through April of 2000. The theatre reopened in mid-April for the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company’s production of “Anything Goes” from April 13 through 16 and Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival from April 27 through 30.

The theatre will close again immediately after these events to finish phase one of construction, which will include installing 11 women’s restrooms and 2 accessible restrooms, opening up the east retail space into the main lobby, conducting roof repairs, and expanding the ticket office space.

Future plans include modernizing aspects of the stage and backstage areas, in addition to improving aesthetic elements such as restoring auditorium seats, replicating designs of original carpet and conserving the original plaster work and gilded paint finishes. In order to complete the master plan, it will be necessary to generate additional private funds including the continued pursuit of private and public grants on the local, regional and national level.

The vision of the Champaign Park District is to transform the Virginia Theatre of the past to its full potential in providing cultural opportunities for current and future generations. 

Rebecca Childress
is the marketing director for the Champaign Park District.
Julia Loofbourrow Guth is the cultural arts manager for the Champaign Park District.
Barbara Edfors is the director of the Virginia Theatre.

Founded in 1911, the Champaign Park District is a special district of local government with its own financial and legal authority and responsibilities. Five elected residents of Champaign serve as the board of commissioners and donate their services to the community. The mission of the Champaign Park District is to improve the quality of life for all residents through education, recreation, culture and leisure opportunities. For more information about the Virginia Theatre project, contact Barbara Edfors at 217.356.9053.

Photos: Top, The interior of the Virginia Theatre as it looks today; Middle, Detail of the ornate exterior of the theatre; Below, the Wurlitzer organ chambers. © Champaign Public Library Archives

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