Mac HS auditorium renovation underway

If Kristen Keplinger, activities director at MacArthur High School, could have just one wish this year, it is that renovations to the school auditorium would be done in time for the Senior Farewell assembly in the spring.

Work started last week on a major renovation project to bring the 1969-era auditorium up to date when a crew from Davis Furniture Co., from Black River Falls, Wis., began the chore of dismantling the 1,200 or so seats in the auditorium, one at a time. Crews started Tuesday afternoon and spent most of the rest of the week removing seats and cleaning up the floor. They will be back in a few months to install new seats.

Doug Brown, assistant superintendent of Educational Services for Lawton Public Schools, said he was tasked last year with making an inspection of the three high school auditoriums to see what needed to be done in order to modernize them. He found curtains with dry rot, stage lights that don’t work, broken seats and outdated acoustical material on the walls.