Portland, OR (March 2, 2026)—In 2023, Portland’s Foster Theater was only months away from being condemned and torn down by the city, when ballet teacher Sarah Rigles stepped in. Director of local dance school Classical Ballet Academy, she was searching for a larger facility—and found it, in the form of a 7,400-square-foot theater. Since purchasing the theater nearly three years ago, she’s now fully renovated the vintage venue, which first opened in 1915 as a tiny vaudeville house.

Now the venue is a 250-seat performing arts space, supporting dance, music and theater programming on its 50-by-50-foot stage, adjacent to the intimate, carefully renovated interior. The theater’s interior has been newly rebuilt from the ground up, designed first and foremost to support the school’s dance performances—a factor that made quality audio crucial.

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With that in mind, designer/installer John Bottrell had to meet a variety of expectations for the Foster Theater. Given the small size, the audio system needed to fill the space but not take up a lot of room, both physically and visually. He noted, “We needed [the audio experience] to have energy and be pleasant at the same time.”

Given the size and layout, Bottrell decided a point source solution would be the best fit for the venue’s needs. The final system features two 1 Sound Contour CT28 loudspeakers flown as the main left and right, supported by two SUB215 subwoofers for low-frequency extension. A half-dozen Cannon C6 loudspeakers serve as both front fills for close seating sections and stage fills, ensuring performers can hear music clearly as they move across the stage. Meanwhile, in the upstairs lounge overlooking the theater, four Cannon C4 loudspeakers extend coverage into the balcony environment. The system is powered by Powersoft Unica amplifiers.

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With curtains and absorption built into the room, the loudspeakers integrated naturally into the space. According to Bottrell, “There’s literally no additional EQ. It speaks to how clear the speakers are.”