Ledges Playhouse shuttered over building safety concerns

TUESDAY, May 31 — The Ledges Playhouse, a converted barn theater in Grand Ledge’s Fitzgerald Park that has hosted performances since the 50s, has been declared unsafe.

And as a result, the Over the Ledge Theatre Co., which is run by Joseph Dickson, has canceled this year’s season premiere of “The Realistic Joneses,” which was set to open on Thursday. 

Al Hoard, a building inspector for Grand Ledge, detailed the issues with the 100-plus-year-old facility in a May 24 letter to City Manager Adam Smith, listing a series of structural concerns including support beams that have been replaced with unknown wood without a permit, as well as the unpermitted installation of catwalks to hang stage lighting in the city-owned barn building.

Hoard also noted concerns about exit signs and fire suppression systems. As a result, the city will need to bring in a structural engineer to review the alterations and Hoard’s safety concerns to determine what, if anything, has to be changed to make the space safe for shows to continue.

Dickson announced the subsequent cancellation of the season premiere over the weekend on Facebook. In the post, he said his company supports the decision by inspectors and believes that safety is a priority. When — and if — the rest of the planned season for his company will continue remains largely up in the air as the company seeks an alternative performance space.

Dickson did not respond to messages from this reporter on Facebook.

The Ledges Playhouse has been used off and on for theater since 1956, according to the Over the Ledge website. Perhaps the most well-known theater company to perform there was BoarsHead Theater, which started in 1966 and moved to downtown Lansing for year-round performances in 1975. The space was later rented by Spotlight Theater, an acting company created by Bob Robinson and Len Kluge which performed in the space from 1983 until 2003.

Over the Ledge has rented the space since 2011.