Plans and costings for major redevelopment of the Regent Theatre are expected to be presented to the Otago Theatre Trust by the end of the year, but work may not start before 2010.
Trust chairman Mike Shield said yesterday design sketches were almost complete and the trust expected to plan its fund-raising campaign early in the new year.
He was not prepared to speculate on the amount of money involved, but when the trust announced the redevelopment last year it was expected to cost about $10 million.
Mr Shield said it was likely the trust would carry out the work in stages because it would not want the theatre out of action for too long.
Priority would be given to the flytower, and to the antiquated and inadequate counterweight system which raised and lowered scenery.
In its present state the counterweight system had limited the productions the theatre could stage.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet had been outspoken about the need for upgrading, because it could not stage ballets with large and complicated sets; it had to scale them down.
Mr Shield said the ballet corps was supportive of what the trust was planning.
Major work would need to take place during the traditionally quiet time for the theatre, from mid December to the beginning of February.
Other work expected to be included in the redevelopment was upgrading of dressing rooms and replacement of seating.
One of the issues with seats was whether the trust would retain the same number.
One possibility was having aisles on either side of the theatre and increasing the space between seats to allow ease of movement, Mr Shield said.
