Copy: Davenport's Capitol Theatre has been through many incarnations since it ceased to be the grand dame of the city's movie houses in 1977. It spent time as a venue for Spanish-language films, a Christian entertainment and teaching center, and a place where the former Marycrest College staged plays. There was even an effort, ultimately blocked in court, to show triple-X-rated pornographic movies there. In January 2008, the Eastern Iowa Community College District, city officials and others announced plans to renovate and reuse the theater, wrapped inside the 10-story Kahl Education Center at West 3rd and Ripley streets. A production company called N-Vents, which includes former River Music Experience, or RME, executive director Lon Bozarth, will lease and manage the 1,500-seat theater and expects to stage national touring acts, opera, ballet, corporate events and community functions. "It's a jewel that a lot of people in the Quad-Cities, especially younger people, don't know exists," said Davenport Alderman Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, who will be involved in the announcement. "It's a jewel waiting to come back." The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has already reserved $750,000 in historic preservation tax credits for any renovation, spokesman Jeff Morgan said. They would be available in 2010. Quad-City developer Chris Ales, who has undertaken other historic redevelopments, will be hired as a consultant to help market the tax credits and to assist in drawing up plans for the renovation, which will have to pass muster with state historic preservation officials, said Richard Davidson, a Davenport attorney who represents Ales. The tax credits are expected to be part of the financing for an estimated $3 million makeover that would expand the lobby concession area into what are now separate storefront offices on Ripley Street, make lower-floor restrooms more accessible to patrons and do something about a collection of dressing rooms that are spread over seven floors and served by "a completely inadequate" system of stairs, said Rich Horst, the director of development for the community college district. A task force that the district appointed recommended reuse of the theater in 2006. Its report said there should be improved emergency access and escapes, and that the theater should be made over to meet Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements. It also asked for improvements in lighting, mechanical systems and the projection booth, as well as restoration of the interior art, plaster and chandeliers. The district is not in a position to run the theater itself because that would not involve classroom instruction or job training, Horst said. But the district recognizes the theater is an important part of Davenport's past that should not be lost, he added. "Kids shouldn't lose it as a venue for things like the Ballet Quad-Cities or the opera," he said. "Other choral groups, chamber groups, the RME and other smaller groups should be the preferred users, and not just for performances, but for rehearsal space." Dale Barber, retired superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District, who led the task force, said the report names other potential users such as the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society, the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, Ghostlight Theater and other local performing arts organizations who could make it a home base. "We looked at it as a gateway to the west side of the downtown," Barber said. "If we had something going there and it didn't conflict with other things like the Adler Theatre or the RME, it could be a real asset."

History: Downtown Davenport's Capitol Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1920. Over the years, it has hosted concerts, movies and plays.

Categories: Theatre

Locations: Davenport