Theater likely will have to come down

February’s snow storms dropped a ton of heartbreak on Edna Porter.

She bought the Elma Theater on North Fourth Street in Elma in 2017 by paying the back taxes on the property.

“All along, I have believed that I was ‘called’ to bring theater back to Elma,” Porter wrote last month.

When the snow fell and the rain followed, it was too much for the theater’s roof.

Most of it came crashing down.

Now Porter and the city are trying to figure out what to do next.

“I’m disappointed I was unable to raise the funds needed to restore the Elma Theater. I’m disappointed and heartbroken, and feel like I have let the community down,” Porter said. “There’s so much more involved in restoring a historic building than I could have ever imagined. … Without substantial funding to repair the exterior walls and replace the roof, the result will likely be complete demolition of the theater. I’m so sorry that I raised the hopes of many people that they would again be able to enjoy the theater with their family.”

“Right now, I really have no idea what’s going to happen with the theater.”

Elma, meanwhile, moves forward with its preperations.

“Whether the building has to come down has not been decided yet,” Elma Mayor Jim Sorensen said this month. “We’re waiting on engineers’ reports, and we met with the owner of the theater stating that time is of the essence to get a plan.”

The building has been in disrepair for years. Porter had hoped to return it to a working theater.

“In high school, I was in drama. I was in the Thespian Club. I was on the stage crew,” she said. “It was my safe place. It was my haven. Most of the time, I was behind the scenes. I was never in plays, I worked on plays. I loved the feeling of live theater. It was the best part of high school for me.”

She has set up a nonprofit organization to take over care of the building and restore it. Any money donated, Porter said, would be tax deductable.

“Sitting in a theater, and the house lights go down, it’s like you’ve been wrapped up in a cozy blanket,” she said

The previous owner used the building for storage space. There are boxes of papers, mattresses. And mold is a problem for anybody who would want to go inside.

“You’re talking many millions of dollars to bring that theater back up, and who has that kind of money?” Sorensen asked. “… We want the property owner to take care of it rather than have the city involved.”

Neighbors of the theater have concerns about the mold. Pieces of the building speckle the street behind it. Some have complained about syringes and other waste.

“The building is so dangerous, there’s no way we can send anybody inside,” Sorensen said. “I believe demolition is the only alternative, unless the owner can come up with the funds to rehab the building.”

But Porter still has hopes for bringing the theater, which is more than 90 years old, to its former glory.

“My plan was, I can get this restored and working again so it’s 100th birthday could be celebrated in a working theater, that was my goal,” she said.