Blue Door Theatre offers sneak peek into new Milk Bottle space as it hosts last Garland District events

An improv theater that has spent two decades in the Garland District is moving into one of Spokane’s landmark milk bottle buildings downtown.

The new location will more than double Blue Door Theatre’s current space and will allow the growing organization to continue to expand its programs.

“It’s a big jump for us,” board president Jim Mohr said at a ribbon-cutting and open house Tuesday where the public caught a glimpse of the renovations.

The move will increase Blue Door’s space from 2,500 to 7,000 square feet and will add another stage and multiple classrooms. Mohr said the Garland Avenue theater was an intimate setting that served them well over the years, but they need the extra room.

The historic downtown milk bottle, also known as the Benewah Milk Bottle at 319 S. Cedar St., was built in 1935 by creamery merchant Paul E. Newport. Most recently, it was a physical therapy clinic. It should not be confused with Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle, which is still an active diner and creamery in the Garland District.

Show attendees will enter the theater through the 38-foot stucco milk bottle structure, which holds the foyer at its base. The front door, taking after the improv group’s namesake, has a fresh coat of blue paint.

The whimsy of the milk bottle is a good fit for the playfulness of improv, Mohr said.

The new venue will have two performance areas: a 90-seat main stage in the front of the building and a 50-seat black box theater in the back of the building. The black box theater – with all-black walls, floor and ceiling – has a garage door on the back wall that could be opened for expanded outdoor seating in the summer.

A kitchen next to the main stage will be used to serve concessions.

The building is full of possibilities and gives Blue Door room to grow and explore, Artistic Director Frank Tano said.

The basement and second floor could be used as a green room for the performers, for storage or as a workshop.

“We are still figuring out how to use this space,” Tano said. “There’s a bucket of great ideas.”

For example, some performances could find a way to incorporate both stages by moving the audience from one to the other during a show.

When he travels, Tano notices improv theaters in other cities often have some form of a performance every night of the week.

“This space will allow us to hit that mark at some point in the future,” he said.

Multiple stages and classrooms mean they can run practices, classes and shows concurrently in the same evening. And with two stages, they hope to support other small theater companies by letting them use the space.

Figuring it out will be a little scary, he said, but it’s not unlike improvising.

“What we do on stage is scary, so we’re used to it.”

Earlier this year, Blue Door opened the Spokane School of Improv to expand its class offerings, many of which apply the lessons of improv not just for the stage, but for the real world as well. A range of classes for children and adults focus on confidence and team building. The school’s motto is “Improv(e) your life!”

Briessa Sanders, a volunteer who gave tours Tuesday, has been taking improv classes for about a year.

“I am a very shy person, so it is a good way for me to get out of my shell, meet new people and just kind of learn to use your brain quickly and not get so stuck in your head,” she said. “It’s been really helpful for me in that regard.”

Classes will begin in the new space Jan. 9 and the first show will be a Jan. 5 performance of “Choose to Lose,” a game show.

Blue Door is hosting its final shows at the Garland location this Saturday. Audience members can pay what they want to see the two matinee shows at 2 and 4 p.m. are pay what you want.

The final show is a performance of “Safari,” a series of game-based scenes fueled by audience suggestions. The show is for mature audiences only. Tickets are $9.