Three fabric-padded, maroon-colored seats sit in a small triangle inside the former Patriot Theater at The War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms.
The cozy but slightly different sample seats represent the future, even as they are surrounded by the raw past − concrete floors, cinderblock walls and steel beams exposed in the ceiling.
The basement theater is a shell of what it once was, damaged by storm flooding in June 2021. The theater flooded in several places. Several feet of water flooded the orchestra pit and soaked the first couple of rows of seats, President and CEO Maria Miller said. It destroyed the theater, which had been shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic just a year earlier.
Now, a $6 million donation from Fred Alger, the great-nephew
of the campus' founders, will breathe new life into the old venue, with renovations expected to begin this week. Programming, such as films, live performances, lectures and community events, is anticipated for fall of 2027, Miller said.
She estimates that the nine-month project will cost about $6.5 million. The additional $500,000, which will be raised, will fund lobby renovations, including concessions.
Miller said the walls will be brought in tighter, and acoustics are anticipated to be better in the renovated theater, which will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
There will be 182 fixed and loose seats and four box seats on either side, with flexible seating bringing total capacity to 200. She said there will be small tables about every other seat, big enough to hold drinks or cell phones, and two dressing rooms and two restrooms backstage for performers.
"Our focus was always, we wanted to bring it back," Miller said of the theater at the campus alongLake St. Clair. "It was probably, and is probably, the No. 1 thing we get asked by people: 'When are you opening the theater?' And I think that is, quite honestly, why Fred did it. I think he heard what the community was saying. He had the means to do so. And he loves and supports this institution."
The theater will be renamed the Veronica Alger Theater in honor of Alger's wife, Veronica, whom he married in 2021. She is a former actress who was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and was a former Miss South Africa, according to a biography in The War Memorial's monthly e-newsletter in October.
Fred Alger also donated $20 million to the Fred M. Alger Center, a cultural facility on the campus that opened in November 2022, Miller said. Alger, founder of Alger Management, is the great-nephew of Russell Alger Jr., who in 1910 commissioned the house on the campus to be designed for his family.
Veronica Alger, in comments provided to the Free Press from The War Memorial, said she shares with her husband the desire to support the cultural centers of the communities in which they live. She said she "was thrilled" when her husband said he was happy to fund the renovations, adding she has "always loved the theater."
"A community is definitely missing its soul without such a venue to celebrate the arts," she said in the provided comments.
The theater originally was built in 1962 and named the Fries Auditorium. Miller said the 450-seat auditorium had musical guests, including Michigan's own Bob Seger and Ted Nugent, and the Grosse Pointe Theatre called it home. In 1975, future First Lady Nancy Reagan delivered a lecture there, according to The War Memorial's website.
The venue was reimagined in 2017 as the Patriot Theater, with seating whittled down to about 245 seats, Miller said, and films began to be shown. The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered it in 2020, and the flood destroyed it just a little over a year later.
Miller, who came to The War Memorial in March 2022, said the contractors and architects are doing everything they can to mitigate future flooding.
She said the theater renovation allows the campus to continue its dual missions of honoring those who served in the military and being a place of arts, culture, learning and education.
Miller said the campus, which was given to the community and has provided many with meaningful memories, has underused assets, such as the theater. Visitors enjoy coming to the location, where the grounds are free and open to the public, for experiences, to learn and to "let go of our daily troubles and have an amazing time," she said.
The opportunity to see films again is sure to excite some Grosse Pointe area residents who have to travel to catch a flick, unless they live in Grosse Pointe Park, where there are movie screens for city residents in one of the city's resident-only parks.
Miller said she also would like the renovated theater to offer some new programming, such as comedy sketches, or serve as a place where independent filmmakers or content creators can debut their work.
She said she thinks of The War Memorial as one of several venues along the Jefferson-Lakeshore arts corridor, stretching from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Housein Grosse Pointe Shores.
"I want it to complement what everyone else is doing along this corridor," she said.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Grosse Pointe Farms landmark to get $6M theater renovation after flood
