It’s the end of an era — but also the beginning of a new chapter — at San Jose’s Olinder Community Center. Northside Theatre Company has announced that it is closing down after 43 years of productions, including an annual staging of a “A Christmas Carol” that was an audience favorite.
Since the death of its founder Richard T. Orlando in 2016, Northside’s fate has been sometimes uncertain. But after coming back from the Coyote Creek flood that devastated the community center in 2017 and preparing to return from the COVID-19 pandemic, Northside ran into a challenge it couldn’t overcome.
Managing Artistic Director Meredith King emailed supporters with the bad news this week that the city wasn’t renewing the contract that allowed Northside rent-free use of the community center on East William Street, where it held rehearsals, stored its sets and used the 80-seat theater to present plays including “Doubt: A Parable,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Other Desert Cities.”
“Without access to the Olinder space, and especially after COVID closures, we find ourselves in the position of having to close our doors,” she wrote. “And while, of course, I am extremely disappointed, these were always the terms of our contract. We have had a very good working relationship with Parks and Recreation for 43 years and they are allowed to make this choice.”
Northside used the community center through the Neighborhood Center Partner Program, which provides space for community-serving organizations. Every few years, the city re-examines its list of nonprofit providers to match them with the centers and decided to make a change for Olinder this time around.
Jon Cicirelli, San Jose’s director of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, called Northside “a fine theater group” but said the city was looking for a partner that could activate the center more often and in different ways. Chopsticks Alley Art, a group that showcases the diversity of Asian art, will become the new partner at Olinder, where it will provide classes — including free ones — and other activities for the public. Northside was offered the option of sharing the site under a lease, but Cicirelli said the theater group decided against that.
King said that the closing doesn’t change what Northside means to her and its supporters. “It is still the theatre company that Richard Orlando founded. It is still the place where we learned what Art is, it is still the place we made lifelong friends, it is still the place that was our home,” she said. “Nothing can take that away.”
CAN-DO ATTITUDES: There was a lot of construction at Westfield Valley Fair over the past couple years because of its recent expansion, but there was more building going on more recently and the results are pretty amazing.
Four teams made up of employees from local companies had 12 hours to create structures using unopened cans of food as part of Canstruction, a nationwide initiative to help the hungry in a creative way. Visitors to the massive shopping center can take a look at the four efforts and vote for the favorite through Sept. 19, though the exhibits will be on display through Sept. 22.
There’s a hungry shark — jaws open — rising from the deep, a part of the Golden Gate Bridge, a barrier wall coming down, and a recreation of the Valley Fair sign that welcomed visitors to the suburban shopping center in the 1960s. The retro sign — which even replicates the pole-mounted globes — was created by the eight-person Valley Fair team, led by Boris Troflianin, and is made of 5,813 cans of Del Monte green beans, Good N Gather tomato sauce, Trader Joe’s black beans and what looked like jello cups.
The other firms participating are Boston Retail Solutions, Paul Durham Electric, Inc., McCarthy Building Companies Inc. and Integrated Engineering Services. Once the exhibition is over, all the cans will be donated to Loaves & Fishes, which will turn them into meals for people in need.
CAST OF CHARACTERS: The Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council of the Boy Scouts of America has assembled another stellar lineup for its annual Character Awards on Sept. 29 in downtown San Jose. This year’s honorees are Lissa Kreisler, the former KBAY host who now hosts a show on Los Gatos’ KCAT TV; Edith Ramirez, assistant city manager for Morgan Hill; Bob Wedig of Wedig Consulting in Sunnyvale; Mark Schroeder, director of engineering at Specialized; and former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell.
The 5:30 p.m. fundraising event is taking place at Blanco Urban, a new indoor-outdoor venue in San Pedro Square, and will featuring “wandering” food station reception. Get more details, including ticket information, at bit.ly/characterawards2021.
BOOK REPORT: Anyone with school kids knows that last school year was one for the books — and Silicon Valley mom Nadia Edoh actually wrote it. “Back-to-School At Home!” is a children’s book aimed at the elementary school set that was inspired by her sons, Mawuli and Kunale, who experienced kindergarten and fifth grade at a distance and had somewhat different reactions. The book was published in the spring but it certainly still resonates with anyone who went through it, and Edoh plans it to be just the first in a series about her sons’ experience. You can purchase it through Amazon or other outlets, including ordering it at Hicklebee’s in Willow Glen.
VINTAGE VEHICLES: The Santa Clara Valley Model T Ford Club is bringing back its Antique Autos show to History Park in San Jose on Sept. 19, showcasing more than 100 vehicles made before 1946. History San Jose will have a few cars from its collection to show off as well, including an 1899 Olson-Hunt, a 1903 Hayes-Aperson and a recently restored 1911 REO Power Wagon (the precursor to the better known REO Speed Wagon). The show runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and tickets are available for $10 ($5 for kids and History San Jose members) at www.historysanjose.org.