Show doesn’t go on at theater as renovations await money

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - Interior renovations to a historic theater on the Mississippi Gulf Coast remain on hold as a city searches for money.

Biloxi officials shut down the Saenger Theater in March, citing the need for repairs.

WLOX-TV reports the city has money that it’s planning to use for exterior repairs. Biloxi officials had planned to use federal community development money for interior repairs. They learned early this year that was an ineligible use.

City spokeswoman Cecilia Dobbs-Walton says the city will take bids before the year’s end for the exterior repairs to the 1929 structure. But it might be years before the theater reopens.

In the meantime, the performing arts groups that had used the theater are finding alternate venues. The Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra is playing concerts at a Gulfport church.

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Information from: WLOX-TV, http://www.wlox.com