Coulter Grove cuts ribbon on outdoor theatre space

Coulter Grove cuts ribbon on outdoor theatre space 

The Daily Times 

Mathaus Schwarzen 

April 27, 2026 

The Hawks have a new aerie. Staff at Coulter Grove Intermediate School gathered to cut the ribbon on the facility’s new outdoor theatre Monday, April 27, bringing an end to three years of planning and fundraising. 

The finished project, dubbed the Hawks Landing Outdoor Theatre, will give students a place to celebrate the arts, participate in events and gather as a congregation. 

Ramona Best, principal for the school, said she sees the theatre as a multipurpose space. 

“We’re formed into houses here, so this will be a great place for house meetings,” she said. “It’ll make a great outdoor classroom. We could do outdoor concerts with our band, orchestra and chorus, so it’s just another space for us to be together.” 

The theatre is mostly finished, but some work remains. Coulter Grove has spent about $40,000 thus far, although that price tag has been largely offset by donations. 

Best said the school has another $20,000 set aside to finish the project, but she anticipates the work will come in under budget. 

The local Parent Teacher Cooperative, she said, has been instrumental in funding. Plenty of local businesses, as well, have donated time and materials to get the project done, cutting the school deals and reducing prices to get the work finished. 

Some of the work has been done by former students, now grown up and working in pertinent fields. 

In its current form, the theatre forms multiple steps set into the hillside next to the school building, facing an open section of concrete and landscaping with Severiville Road on the far side. Additional work yet to be done, school staff said, includes planting more trees and installing turf. 

The area now occupied by the theatre has been a point of reference for decades of students, Best told the current cohort. Speaking to students in the new space Monday, she reminded them of their own memories in the grove and encouraged them to make more. 

“This is an extension of our campus,” she said. “The grove is our playground. The grove is a place to come when we have a fire drill. The grove is a place that we tend to walk through — but it’s going to be more than that.” 

She thanked parents and teachers for their cooperation as well as the donors who came together to make the project a reality. 

“When you build something that future generations can use, it’s very, very exciting,” she said.