Nice, warm, gooey and tasty. All of these describe homemade cookies from the oven inside the nice cozy house. Performing arts students can’t relate, as their comfortable and beloved home…is being destroyed. 

For years Klein Oak students and alumni have seen the glorious and reigning auditoriums throughout the district rise up and they have wished to have those updated and furnished rooms here.

At last their dreams have come true. Construction has begun for a renovated auditorium and the race to finish by November 2020 has begun. 

“We have the smallest auditorium, and it’s time for us to now get a new theater,” Associate Principal Heather Cook said.

As bus riders and car riders are aware, the auditorium is the focus for construction as of now since so many organizations use it and it is in dire need of updates. However, along with the auditorium, a new dance wing is planned to begin soon as an addition to the school behind the small gym. 

The new auditorium’s design will benefit from all the best designs in the district’s other theaters. For instance, the new auditorium will have a fly system which is a safer and much quicker way to put lights on trusses. Additionally, new rooms with better accessibility will also be added to improve the quality of performances.

However, the transition into other practice areas has been slightly difficult. Recently the theatre students have had to move all of the set pieces and tools into whatever crevasse they can find across campus, including random closets and t-buildings.

“[I want] to teach these kids what theatre is like. I don’t want to sell them short. It’s work, we want to work,” director Eric Domuret said.

Besides the updated auditorium, the new dance wing will create space for the program to grow even larger. The new dance studio will be two floors, which is rare, and will make this state of the art dance studio well known throughout the state.

In addition, the dance studio will have a marley floor, a special floor to give the dancers joints comfort when dancing, which is used in on-stage performances . Locker rooms for boys and girls will also be added, which may be the biggest improvement out of this studio. 

“I think this may be the one of the best studios in the state with all it has to offer,” dance director Fayla Curry said.

As for the auditorium, newer is often better, but even though these new buildings will have great attributes, there is still an elephant in the room while preparations for the construction get underway.

Seniors are excited that a new and better system will be made for the upcoming performers, yet still find it difficult for them to accept that their home these four years will be no more. 

Senior Dylan Delgatto could have been found in the theater any time of the day, but now he is basically “homeless” as the auditorium is uninhabitable. 

“It’s sad. There’s lots of memories and lots of friendships preparing for shows. This is our safe place, and I don’t regret being in this old one for four years,”  Delgatto said.

Delgatto even wrote his name all over the auditorium to allow others to remember him and the impact he made in the theater. 

Senior Erik Gordillo, captain of the Oak Break Dance Krew, has also had a difficult time coping with the destruction of Studio 414 and the history that will go away with it. 

The dance studio used to be a weight room but was turned into a dance studio after mirrors were added. From that moment on the unnamed studio would be called Studio 414 and would live on as a second home for many dance studios.

“The 414 title will go away but will be special for me because I was there. The studio has changed me over the years and made me who I am. I wouldn’t be who I am without the studio,” Gordillo said. 

While students struggle to allow their home away from home to merely just disappear, the directors rejoice in having refurbished and highly updated areas. 

The spaces will be dreams come true for the students and that a new legacy and home will be made for them in the future.