Final cost of the Paradise Performing Arts Center is $3.5 million. The Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rhonert Park, California was built by the city through the sale of bonds. This theater seats 660 people. It cost $10.2 million to build. In Irvine, California, The Barclay Theater was built through a combination of tax moneys and donations. This theater seats 780 people. It cost $17.5 million. We have a real bargain!
  

  
Our Performing Arts Center was built entirely through donations from individuals, local businesses, clubs and organizations as well as corporate gifts and grants. No tax or bond money went into its building. No government entity controls its operating policies.

2,048 families and organizations have contributed $2.5 million dollars towards the building of the facility. This represents only a small portion of the combined Paradise/Magalia population of 45,000. Just think what might have happened had a simple majority of the population gotten behind the effort!

The Performing Arts Center has been called one of the finest performing arts centers in the country. Jack Bogan, a professional theater design consultant from the Bay Area said following a recent visit, "What you have here is the 'Jewel of the Foothills'."
  

  
The building is five stories high.

The facility's seating capacity is 762 seats depending on the configuration, as some seats are removable to allow for wheelchair access. Six aisle seats have arms that can be raised to allow the handicapped easy access. There are two elevators to accommodate wheel- chairs. One provides transport between stage level and audience level, and the other between audience level and the floor of the orchestra pit.

The proscenium opening is 40 feet wide and 23 feet high. The stage is 1,600 square feet overall.
  

  
On stage are 26 lines of rigging. Each one can support over a ton of scenery, lights or curtains.

There are 112 electrical circuits within the stage area providing the power for many high wattage theater lighting fixtures. The stage currently has three light battens, eight floor pockets and two wall pockets. Over the seating area are two catwalks running the full width of the building. There is a light batten on each catwalk. Side lighting is accomplished from two hinged "light ladders" located in openings on either side of the proscenium.
  

  
The floor of the stage is cushioned for the benefit of dancers. It has a concrete base which is covered with a moisture barrier, then a layer of PVC cushion to provide the "spring effect." On top of this are 2x3's on 16 inch centers, and then 1 and 1/8 inch tongue-and-groove plywood subfloor which is surfaced with 5/8 inch particle board.
  

  
The stage curtain measures 52 by 54 feet, contains 312 square yards of plum colored velour and weighs 1,250 pounds.
  

  
The Paradise Performing Arts Center is one of four theaters on the west coast equipped with state-of-the-art digital sound systems. Programming the system is accomplished by a computer, either on site or remotely via a modem. Attached to the ceiling of the theater are 60 tuned acoustical panels designed by an audio engineering firm to enhance the quality of the sound. There are clusters of three loudspeakers over the stage and three more midway over the audience on the last catwalk.
  

  
An orchestra pit is in front of the stage. The floor is manually adjustable to three levels: one is at pit level, the next at audience level which would extend the house floor right to the stage, and the third level extends the stage out into the audience.

Backstage are dressing rooms with showers, a large makeup room, a green room and a loading dock with large access doors to the stage.