CENTERVILLE—Some big changes have taken place in CenterPoint Legacy Theatre’s Second Stage that will make the audience experience even better. The first production on the new stage, “Cats” opened June 13 and runs through July 15. CenterPoint Executive Director, Danny Inkley gave a media tour of the facility on June 18.

“We welcomed the public the last two days into this,” he said. “We’re just really excited about it.”

So this whole Second Stage upgrade started with the idea that there was a need to increase capacity, said Inkley. “So it started with that for real and then it sort of exploded into this.”

The space has obviously existed since the building was built 15 years ago, he said. “We’ve done 37 productions in this space over the past 15 years, some awesome stuff. Lots of it has been smaller casts, line plays, those kinds of things.”

The average attendance at those shows has been right around 1,150 people each show, Inkley said. “So, you know, 2,500 or 3,000 people a year would come and participate in those.”

This is also the home of CenterPoint Academy, he said. “CenterPoint Academy, over the last 10 years, has done 60 productions in this space.”

Part of the upgrade was more seats. “The idea is with increased capacity, so more seats, we’re going to do more performances over the next year,” Inkley said. “In the next 12 months we anticipate more than 40,000 patrons will be in this space between Academy and Second Stage season. We anticipated doing something crazy like between 350 and 400 performances every year in this space.”

The cast of "Cats" takes the stage at CenterPoint Theatre. Photo courtesy CPT 

 So that’s where it started about 18 months ago, he said. “This got built and we built the turntable into it (stage) but we didn’t have a motor yet, so it just sat here for a long time. Then kind of slowly we made some upgrades and some changes to some things and then the more apparent stuff maybe picked up just a couple of months ago.”

Inkley said there are four show elements that were put in. “The first one is the sound. There’s a full new sound setup in here. It’s a little bit like surround sound, directional sound, you can hear it and then a little bit of bass, like a subwoofer thing.”

The point of the sound is to participate in a story, he said. “You need to understand what is being said. That’s the point. Lots of times we don’t notice sound unless something glitches or goes wrong. It’s a really difficult thing.”

The second thing is the turntable, said Inkley. “The idea is that in a space like this we can’t build big elaborate sets. We wondered what we could use to help us with transitions or storytelling or with 35 academy kids on the stage at the same time. This creates a way where someone rotates off, someone rotates on telling a story through transitions.”

The third thing is the LED walls, he said. “There’s one on that wall and there’s one on that wall and there’s one behind me. They just blend in really well. Anywhere you sit in this space this is in your direct line of sight. A lot of this is going to be just place setting, environment setting, like a traditional backdrop. Now there’s tons more we can do with video.”

The fourth element is light, Inkley said. “There’s 20 movie lights now in here and just so many storytelling capabilities with that.”

Inkley was standing on the stage with the set for “Cats.” “This is where we are, the retro neon graveyard of doom and wonder.” 

That night, the performance of “Cats” started with cast members dressed in all kinds of cat-like costumes crawling through the audience and up onto the stage. The production was filled with high energy song and dance numbers – all with a feline twist. 

Perhaps the standout of the whole show was the iconic song “Memory” sung by Grizabella, the outcast cat, played by Jessica Andrus (MWF). Andrus took down the house with her heartfelt rendition of the classic.

The actors slipped on and off the turntable and with new lights, LED walls and sound combined for an unforgettable show.

“Cats” runs through July 15, Monday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m. To buy tickets or for more information about the show visit https://centerpointtheatre.org/seasonal-shows/cats/. CenterPoint is located at 525 N. 400 West, Centerville.