A dance troupe in full regalia waited backstage at the Grandin Theatre to put on a show last October. There was just one issue. Every member of the Dream Dance Studio troupe needed to use the restroom.
Taking that break inside the venue would have required them to either walk through the waiting crowd or go outside and come back into the lobby. Either way, it might look like part of the show, and would definitely spoil their colorful costume surprise.
Ian Fortier, the venue’s executive director, helped lead the group out the back door in a light drizzle to the back of a neighboring restaurant. Business done, everyone headed back to the theater for a Hispanic Heritage Month folklore dance.
A large hole that a crew has now dug behind the 94-year-old building is the first step to fixing that issue and others for performers who play the multipurpose theater. A dressing room/restroom area with a washer and dryer, an ADA-compliant shower, an ADA-compliant lift that will accommodate equipment moves, an office for the general manager and a mop closet will fill the hole by about October, Fortier said.
“And it can be for anybody, from world-class traveling artists getting off [Interstate] 81 to perform at the Grandin to the theater company across the alley who has 30 dancers that need to use mirrors and need to use bathrooms,” Fortier said.
The space will connect to the venue’s former boiler room, underneath the stage. In 2025, the theater converted that basement into an artist green room, complete with the bar from its former neighbor, Local Roots restaurant. Workers added a storage shed at stage level last year, too, for items including speakers, cables, microphones, mic stands and podiums.
“These Depression-era movie houses were not built to have people or stuff backstage, you know,” Fortier said. “There’s eight feet behind the screen, and then it’s the back of the building. Converting it into a performing arts facility is a bit of a trick.”
It’s a $535,000 project, about 92% donor-raised, he said. The theater will chip in the rest. “Every capital project, we want to make sure the Grandin is invested in as well,” he said.
Meanwhile, the movie schedule will continue unhindered, and two concerts — The Darkside Experience on June 24 and Darrell Scott on July 9 — are still on. Crews will load equipment in from the front of the venue. Construction will rarely coincide with scheduled events, he said.
“Shows scheduled for the fall, we’ve kind of programmed a little bit locally and regionally in case there’s a timeline adjustment, to make sure that we’re working with artists who would understand and be a little bit flexible until full completion and certificate of occupancy,” he said.
The dressing room will be the latest upgrade connected to a 2020 plan, in which the Grandin began to raise what would be at least $400,000 to renovate the main theater. The governing foundation raised it all during the COVID-19 era, then added items including extensive new lighting, sound gear, acoustic paneling and a stage revamp.
Such upgrades stem from the foundation’s decision to diversify its offerings in an era that has seen ever-declining movie theater attendance, Fortier said. Diverse programming has led to more consistent crowds and more stable operations, he said.
In 2025, the theater sold 45,000 tickets and estimated that between 6,000 and 8,000 more came through for non-ticketed events, he said.
A performer’s perspective
Last Halloween, the green room had just opened, and reggae act The Ambassador was among the first to use it. Singer Melissa Mesko, who is part of the band, had played plenty of Grandin gigs pre-green room. She was glad about the new accommodation, she said in a Facebook message exchange.
“In the past, we would sit in the wings when we were off stage,” wrote Mesko, a singer and songwriter who leads her own band and sings backing vocals for groups including The Darkside Experience. “There was no real private area to change clothes, etc. The green room is pretty fantastic.”
Dressing room construction will have recently begun when she takes the stage with Darkside, a Pink Floyd tribute band. She looks forward to when it’s finished.
The green room is “a nice place to chill, but if you need to use the facilities, you have to go outside, next door, or go into the theater,” she wrote. “Bathrooms are essential. Especially at my age!”
