Last modified: Thursday, May 1, 2008 2:16 AM EDT Foxboro's Orpheum Theater is being renovated. (FILE PHOTO BY MARK STOCKWELL) Orpheum seeking spot on historic list BY JAMES A. MEROLLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO -- A much different kind of backstage show is on the boards at The Orpheum Theater. A community-wide effort is under way to restore the former vaudeville and movie house to its original glory. The goal is to have the mauve-colored building at 1 School St. at the head of Foxboro Common recognized in the National Registry of Historic Properties. Selectmen, the Foxboro Historical Society, along with private individuals and local businesses, have joined forces to give the Orpheum Theater a facelift and restore its interior to the authentic period of when the building first opened in the early 1920s with an art deco decor. Local and regional actors, directors, set designers, interior decorators and private individuals have joined with Aubuchon Hardware, Glidden Paints, Pepsi, Invensys, Minwax and Elevate Your Space Flooring to give the theater, run by Bay Colony Productions, a complete interior and partial exterior renovation. Those renovations include painting of the auditorium ceiling, lobby, offices, upper lobby, bathrooms and exterior wood trim and doors, restaining of all the interior wood work, and new carpeting throughout the box office, offices, lobby and theater. There also will be new hardwood floors in the upper lobby that will create a new art gallery for local artists to display their works. The lobby also will include a historical presentation of the 100-year-history of the Orpheum theater with several photographs, articles and announcements all professionally matted and framed. The concession stand will have all new coolers and counter tops with a mirrored backsplash and new lighting. New display cases, enclosed in glass and trimmed in mahogany, will update the box office and allow for professional presentation of published material and announcements. New electrical fixtures in the lobby and exterior will add to the elegance of the theater. Some have estimated the total price tag for this work above $60,000, but much of the supplies of equipment and labor have come through donations. Since it reopened in the early 1990s as a live theatrical house, the Orpheum has undergone several changes in ownership and management. Bill Cunningham and Bay Colony Productions have run the theater since the turn of the new century and produce a half-dozen plays and musical each year, as well as concerts, film festivals and other entertainment. Future plans for renovations and restorations include bringing the theater up to date as a state-of-the-art facility that will allow it to continue to service the performing arts programs that are under its roof today. Future plans for expansion include a master plan that could potentially turn the Orpheum into a complete cultural, visual and performing arts center. For more information how you can contribute to the renovations or master plan, call the Orpheum box office at 508-543-4434.