Sonoma’s iconic Sebastiani Theatre changes hands

Nothing lasts forever. Especially in showbiz.|

What’s in a remake?

new wider, plush seats

refinished stage

second 60-seat theater

ADA compliant entrance, auditorium, and bathrooms

new green room for visiting talent

new dressing rooms

new code-compliant kitchen for concessions, beer and wine

restored plaster in main auditorium

ambitious programming goals

After 26 years as owner-operators of the iconic Sebastiani Theatre, Roger and Diana Rhoten have passed the baton, selling the theater business to its fundraising foundation.

On Dec. 1, the Sebastiani Theatre Foundation purchased all assets from the formerly for-profit business, converting it immediately, and officially, to a nonprofit. Roger Rhoten has been hired as the foundation’s executive director, responsible for programming and fundraising. Tony Ginesi will continue to be the theater manager.

“We’re changing over the squad,” Roger Rhoten said on Monday. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m not retiring. But the foundation will take over the (business).”

In 2016, the foundation - in partnership with the City of Sonoma - assumed a 25-year lease on the theater building at 476 First St. E., with an option for 25 more. A promise from the building’s owners, the Oakland-based Sebastiani Building Investors, to limit rent increases to 2 percent for the next 25 years, and possibly 50, felt like an opportunity for the theater’s board of directors. “It’s kind of like we own the building,” board president Jocelyn Vick told the Index-Tribune in October.

The Sebastiani Theatre was built in 1932 and needs upgrades to meet current state and federal construction standards. Specifically, the building doesn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the required alterations cannot be made without significantly altering its aesthetic. “We’re really concerned about keeping the historic qualities,” Rhoten said. “People come in and think it’s a museum. We want to be sure to preserve its historic look.”

Constructed with steel beams by contractors who were “ahead of their time,” according to Rhoten, the building is in the fortunate position in that it does not require earthquake retrofitting – a rare advantage for 80-year-old buildings in California.

But it does need ADA compliant bathrooms, new seats, new heating and air conditioning, a refinished stage, and repair of the plaster moldings, copings and pilasters in the main auditorium.

Its projection system, on the other hand, is state-of-the-art. “It’s the one thing we don’t have to replace,” Diana Rhoten said.

Perhaps more pressing than upgrades to the theater’s hardscape, however, is repair of the theater’s tenuous solvency.

“The movie business has changed so much. With on-demand and Netflix and whatnot, it doesn’t generate money like it did,” Rhoten said.

To stay viable in a rapidly changing world, the Sebastiani Theatre must adapt and build a long-term strategy for the future, board members said. That includes construction of a second, 60-seat theater, dressing rooms for live productions, a green room to hold visiting talent, and upgraded kitchen from which to serve food, beer and wine.

“We need a second screen, because when we enter into a contract to screen a movie, we have to have it showing whenever we’re open. A second screen would allow continuous play while freeing up the theater for other events,” Rhoten said.

Single-screen theaters often have their hands tied by strict contracts with movie distributors. In addition to requiring that a single film screen throughout the day, some of the bigger films demand multi-week runs.

“Everyone in town sees the movie in the first week, and then the theater sits empty for weeks two, three and four,” Rhoten said.

Planning to use the main auditorium to present concerts, lectures, and other live entertainment has forced the foundation to consider the theater’s other limitations.

“There’s not much in the way of dressing rooms here. Players have to get ready outside under tents. There’s no green room. Top performers need a place to be. And concessions are where the profit is. We need a kitchen area approved by the health department to serve beer and wine,” Rhoten said.

The planned transformation will be an extreme make-over – iconic-movie-theater edition – and it is expected to cost a tidy sum. While Rhoten was not ready to put a hard number on the planned project, he conceded it would be a “multi-million dollar project, no doubt.”

Board president Vick said the foundation was well on its way, with more than a million dollars already collected or promised by donors.

Converting the theater business to nonprofit status will allow those donations to be claimed as tax deductions.

“I feel that our expanded tax benefits will help the committee,” Rhoten said. “We had to go nonprofit to attract large donors.”

The foundation was organized to protect and preserve the building itself, and was a designated nonprofit organization (NPO) from the start. But up until now the theater has always been a for-profit business.

“We’ve been a for-not-very-much-profit organization for 26 years,” Rhoten quipped.

The theater will be closed for several months during construction; those dates have not yet been set. A major fundraising campaign stands between idea and execution, and the distance between is distinctly uphill.

But once the capital is raised and the building upgraded, the hat-passing will come to an end.

“We’re trying to create a venue that is self-sufficient,” Rhoten said.

Added Vick: “We don’t want to be another nonprofit in the Valley that is always asking for money.”

The theater’s eventual transformation will allow new forms of entertainment for the community, but it also marks the end of an era for what could be called “Rhoten productions.”

For instance, “Witchie Poo,” the Halloween stage show featuring Diana and Roger Rhoten and scores of local kids, is now the intellectual property of the foundation. The same is true of the popular “Nature Camp” for kids, though the Rhotens will continue to make major contributions to both.

“I’ll run them as long as I can, and hope the foundation will run them in perpetuity,” Diana Rhoten said.

The end of an era is always coupled with the advent of another, a pivot that is both bitter and sweet by definition.

“This is no longer my business. The foundation has sole ownership,” Rhoten said. “Before, I did everything. Now, we work together. I’m excited.”

Contact Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.

What’s in a remake?

new wider, plush seats

refinished stage

second 60-seat theater

ADA compliant entrance, auditorium, and bathrooms

new green room for visiting talent

new dressing rooms

new code-compliant kitchen for concessions, beer and wine

restored plaster in main auditorium

ambitious programming goals

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