FOX TUCSON THEATRE

FOX TUCSON THEATRE looks to 2021

By Beverly Medlyn

At 90 years of age, Fox Tucson Theatre is among the city’s grande dames of performing arts venues. “The crown jewel” was unveiled in 1930 as a dual vaudeville/movie house.

It was celebrated with a party that drew people to literally dance on Congress Street, with live bands, a live radio broadcast and free trolly rides — welcome entertainment at the start of the Depression era.

Over the decades, the Fox Tucson Theatre has had its ups and downs. Its low point was 1974 to 2006, when the theater was shuttered, a casualty of industry competition and downtown’s decline.

A $14 million rehabilitation brought it back to life, with the building at 17 W. Congress St. securing a place on the National Register of Historic Places because of its unique “Southwestern Art Deco” décor and exceptional acoustics.

The revitalization paralleled downtown’s rebirth. In recent years, the Fox hosted as many as 160 events a year attended by more than 75,000 people. The theater’s seating capacity of 1,164 was big enough to attract national talent, but small enough to feel intimate.

Enter COVID-19.

“We got hit pretty hard,” says Bonnie Schock, who began her tenure as executive director on March 9 after serving five years as director of Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Fox programming has been suspended through the end of 2020 with plans to resume live shows in early 2021.

Several factors went into the decision. As an organization that presents art rather than producing it, Fox depends on other companies to create and bring shows to the theater.

In addition to lost revenue from ticket sales, Fox gave ticket refunds for 2020 shows that were cancelled or postponed.

Maintaining the theater, which costs tens of thousands a month, also is an ongoing cost. A fund-raising drive is underway.

Schock remains hopeful about the future.

“The Fox is a unique space,” she says. “There is no other space like it in the country. It is well loved. In one form or another, the Fox will survive and thrive. The question is how we get to whatever the other side will be.”

For more information, visit foxtucson.com.