Urbana board to consider upgrades to high school auditorium

URBANA – Greg Chew walks through the Urbana High School auditorium with a sense of nostalgia. As drama teacher and often director, he has used this space for decades, from back when those '70s orange-upholstered seats were cool.

But they haven't been cool in a while, and some are visibly worn out, their metal bottoms dented and dinged from thousands of tapping high-schooler legs.

When it was built, the space was designed to be "a touch of luxury on the prairie," Chew said. "There's an implied promise when you come into a theater that it's going to take you somewhere, and the stage is going to take you there."

At Tuesday's Urbana school board meeting – held at 7:30 p.m. at 205 N. Race St., U – the beginnings of a renovated theater may be hatched.

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