The wooden festival stage in Iowa City’s City Park will receive improvements to its ventilation and lighting upgrades to enhance the viewer and actor experience early next year.

The Iowa City City Council unanimously approved the first steps of the $256,000 construction project at its meeting on Tuesday night.

One of the major improvements will be the addition of a stairwell to access the second floor of the stage where most of the lighting equipment is, and a rail enclosing the walkway where the equipment is, Ethan Yoder, a civil engineer for the city, said.

Currently, the only way to access the second level of the stage is through a ladder, which can be somewhat dangerous and cumbersome for show crews to haul up the necessary equipment, Yoder said. 

The lighting backstage is also starting to deteriorate with age, so it will be upgraded as well. Additionally, fans and other air circulation devices would be added backstage to make it more comfortable for the actors, Yoder said.

According to Tuesday’s agenda, a construction company would be awarded the bid for the project on Jan. 2, and construction is expected be completed by spring 2024.

The city council documents state that Riverside Theater, a local theater organization, has offered to contribute $50,000 to the project and also helped the city determine what things needed improvements on the stage, Yoder said. Riverside Theater often uses the stage and puts on a yearly free showing of Shakespeare plays every summer. 

Juli Seydell Johnson, director of Parks and Recreation for Iowa City, said during the meeting that making the improvements and renovations were needed to keep the stage open.

“Nothing really exciting — these are all things that just need to be done to keep it standing and keep it operational,” Seydell Johnson said.