Los Angeles' International City Theatre home at the Center Theater is going to look a little nicer by the time Loot opens there Sept. 1. The Long Beach City Council has approved $500,000 for the company to renovate their current digs.

Among the planned improvements include new carpets, new seats, a new lighting board and instruments, a new sound system, new drapes for the stage and new signs for the exteriors. Funds will come from the Parking Surcharge Fund, with $1 from every $7 fee going to the renovation.

Sept. 1, both ICT and the city of Long Beach will host a gala reopening ceremony in the lobby of the Center Theatre. Post-Loot performance, the tireless ICT will throw their opening night party for the Joe Orton production.

Recent productions with International City Theater have included Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor, the West Coast premiere of Polly Pen's Bed and Sofa, Matthew Witten's The Deal and Michael Frayn's Noises Off.

-- By Christine Ehren