Building God’s Way and Hilbers, Inc. recently completed the new performing arts theater at Woodland Christian School in Woodland, California.
This new state-of-the-art theater will seat up to 530 people and features a 1,000+ square foot stage with backstage prep area and dressing rooms, an upper balcony/mezzanine level, and a large lobby gathering space that includes concession areas, ticket stands and administrative offices.
The school previously held its drama productions at the local Woodland Opera House and now will have their own home for performing arts/drama education, musical performances, chapels, promotions and graduation ceremonies.
However, Woodland Christian is also looking forward to sharing the new facility and making it available to the local community.
David Hargadon, director of operations & development, said, “Our goal is to be a light in this community, and this new performing arts center will give us another opportunity to share what God has given to us with others.”
In 2018, the school received a $2.5 million donation for the performing arts center from an anonymous donor, via the Community Fund of Western Nevada.
Shortly after that, the Yocha Dehe Winton Nation gave a matching donation of $2.5 million for the construction of a gymnasium, which was completed by BGW & Hilbers in September 2020.
“We moved forward in faith that additional money would come in to help us complete these projects. We just didn’t realize how quickly this would happen,” stated Hargadon.
Woodland Christian has similar plans to allow the community to utilize the new gym throughout the week for youth camps and activities.
“This gym is a game-changer for our kids and community,” said Athletic Director Callie Wissmann. “Once we are back to 100 percent, this building will be used six days a week.”
From high tech classrooms and science labs to state-of-the-art athletic facilities and performing arts theaters, BGW Architects and its national network of faith-based contractors has provided compelling design and construction solutions for Christian schools since 1997. Through a unique approach developed exclusively for ministry-based organizations, their goal is to significantly reduce both up-front building costs as well as long term maintenance and operation expenses, www.bgwservices.com.
