LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center is out with the old and in with the new.
Over the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s winter break, the theater will be closed to install new seats in the two auditoriums.
Since opening in 2003, the Ross hasn’t had any significant updates, according to director Danny Lee Ladely.
“We wanted to do this renovation because, quite frankly, the original seats we had installed just aren’t comfortable,” he told the Lincoln Journal Star. “The chairs are old now, and it has gotten to the point where we need to keep our movie-goers happy.”
Ladely said the new seats will be wider, have more comfortable cushions, in-arm cup holders and still feature collapsible desktops for UNL students with classes at the Ross.
The project will lower capacity in each of the two theaters, with the larger of the two going from 250 seats to 197 and the smaller theater going from 105 seats to 82. There will be additional space for wheelchair seating in both theaters, Ladely said.
The Ross was able to purchase the new seats through an endowment left to the University of Nebraska Foundation by Mary Riepma Ross, who died in 2013. The theater also took donations for the project, and those who donated $250 - the cost of a single seat - or more will get a plate with their name attached to one of the new seats.
Ladely said the Ross has raised $60,000 through donations, but still has about 70 seats left without nameplates. He said planning for the renovation began two years ago, and the theater started taking donations last year.
The renovation of the theaters began on Dec. 20 and will be finished by Jan. 10, he said. The Ross plans to host a grand reopening on Jan. 18 from 1-3 p.m. to celebrate completion of the project.
“We want to host a grand reopening so the people who donated for a seat can find theirs with their nameplate,” Ladely said. “We also hope to see returning and new guests at the Ross during the reopening.”
Renovations at the Ross won’t stop there, according to Ladely. Next, they plan to upgrade the sound systems in the theaters and eventually add a “micro theater” that seats 25 to 30 people for films that don’t attract large crowds.
“We want to keep improving the theaters to keep our regular moviegoers happy while bringing in new ones,” he said.
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