FeedsNew theater heads to Northville
A new ‘act’ may be coming to town, as early as May.
A non-profit group wants to bring a new community theater to the City of Northville, according to Chuck Gaidica, president of the board of directors for the Tipping Point Theatre.
“I think we’re doing this for the right reasons,” Gaidica said. “We think this will help the entire community. Everyone we have talked to in the city has been more than helpful. The City of Northville gets it.”
Gaidica talked about the proposal at the Northville City Planning Commission last week, according to City Manager Pat Sullivan. The theater would go in the building at 361 Cady St., by the Belanger building, in a gutted structure that had been for sale. It will require a rezoning from the current industrial designation and approval by the city council and the Northville Historic District.
Gaidica and a partner, developer Chuck Lapham, purchased the building. The 40 by 100 foot building has 16-foot ceilings, and is free of any pillars, which Gaidica noted, was ideal for the “black box” type of theater planned.
“There won’t be a bad seat in the house,” he promised.
Gaidica said some of the details have already been worked out, though.
He’s working with Christina Johnson, the drama teacher at Northville High School, to run Tipping Point. The name, she said, was Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book of the same title. The “tipping point” is that “one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything changes all at once.”
“The mission of TPT is to foster human interactions and relations, creating a unifying, yet personal experience through affordable, professional-level theatre performances and community outreach,” she said.
The group had its origin in the Act-Ed Theatre Co., led by Johnson, which produced two successful plays in 2006 through the Northville Parks and Recreation department.
City Councilman Jim Allen said he liked the concept of the theater because it reminded him of the Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, which was started by Jeff Daniels.
“It’s going to be similar to that,” Allen said.
Gaidica said it was a good comparison and he’s hoping that the theater will bring that kind of attention to Northville, too.
“That put Chelsea on the map,” he said. “That theater helped every business in town, and that’s what we hope to do, too.”
He said he’s hoping to put on their first production in May. The theater will hold 140 people.
This will be professional theater,” he said. “Actors want to act, they want to work. So I think we can offer some top-notch talent,” Gaidica said. “And education is a large part of this. We hope to teach classes and offer a type of community outreach back to the high school.”
Sullivan said he thought it would be a good location.
“It’s not only a good use for that spot, but it can spur other developments in the downtown,” he said.
