January 6 — In a recently distributed message from Frank Chong, President of the Santa Rosa Junior College, it was announced that the school’s much-used Burbank Auditorium – home to SRJC’s Theater Arts program and the popular Summer Repertory Theatre program – will be getting a long-delayed upgrade and remodeling. Using grant money’s set aside for the improvement of campus facilities, the upgrade, set to begin this month, will be completed by 2018, in time for the campus’s 100th anniversary celebration.
“Burbank is over 75 years old, and in need of an ‘extreme makeover,'” wrote President Chong in announcing the project, which will include improvements to audience sight-lines and general accessibility, weatherproofing of the exterior of the building, and various upgrades to the back-of-house systems, including new theater lighting and improvements in the theater’s many mechanical systems. “We are excited,” says Chong, “to kick off our 100^th anniversary with a new Burbank Auditorium that will serve the college and community for the next 100 years!”