Savannah River Productions Moving to New Theatre in Lavonia

Savannah River Productions is relocating its production house and theatre from Hartwell to Lavonia.

The non-profit theatre troupe offers high-quality theatre productions to the Northeast Georgia region.

They recently announced the purchase of a building on Highway 17 in Lavonia next to the Franklin County Habitat for Humanity Thrift store.

Savannah River Productions member Andrea Bradford recently spoke to the Lavonia Chamber’s Lunch & Learn where she outlined their plans.

Bradford says work to turn the building into the Savannah River Little Theatre is already underway.

“We purchased it several months ago and we have started working on it. We have demolished the inside. Many of you know it used to have the medical center offices there, so I think there used to be like 16 offices. We have gutted all of that out, and we are going to build our 300-seat (it will be just shy of that) theatre. It will be like 295 (seats) plus handicap seats in that space,” said Bradford.

Currently, Savannah River Productions is housed in the Lonnie Burns Fine Arts Center in downtown Hartwell, but space there is limited to just 120 seats.

They have also put on plays at other venues, including the Schaefer Center in Toccoa, the Old Clayton Inn in Clayton, and at the renovated Rock Gym in Elberton.

However, according to Bradford, their patrons have long been asking the theatre troupe to locate somewhere closer to the Interstate.

“We’re excited about coming to Lavonia. We chose Lavonia specifically, as I mentioned. We are in our tenth season and we travel all over Northeast Georgia,” she explained. “What we’ve found is our groups really support us. They really help us and we need our groups to make our shows happen. What we’ve heard from most of our groups is they want us to be located on I-85.”

Savannah River Productions hopes to have their new Savannah River Little Theatre in Lavonia open in time for their holiday production, “A Sanders Family Christmas,” which will premiere in late December.