'Secret Theater' In East Austin Could Be Next Casualty Of City Gentrification

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- The days might be numbered for the "secret theater" in East Austin.

In a recent report, the Austin American-Statesman reported on the history of a resident's backyard theater of sorts that is, in many ways, quintessentially Austin -- or the manifestation of what Austin once was, now quickly disappearing with the influx of a different set of newcomers dramatically transforming the landscape.

It started nine years ago when Beau Reichert, 39, found himself struggling to make friends after moving here -- aprt of his struggle with social interaction exacerbated by the Asperger's syndrome from which he suffers. With his doctor's encouragement, he decided to build an art studio to help meet new people in a comfortable environment of his own making.

The art studio never materialized, but Reichert spruced up the two-acre lot he had purchased, eventually setting up an outdoor movie screen at the site. Neighbors started dropping by, helping Reichert develop the friendships he had onced struggled to make. Soon, he was the darling of the local arts scene and others would drop in by special invitation for a neighborhood movie night.

For several years, he told the Statesman, he was having the time of his life, the stress and anxiety that are hallmarks of Asperger's syndrome dissipated.

But recently, noise complaints started coming into the city from new neighbors in an adjacent subdivision -- the type of enclave being built at a brisk pace to accommodate the hundreds of people moving to Austin every day, many lured here by the city's burgeoning tech industry.

Things got worse after a Fourth of July complaint. According to the Statesman, the city's code department executed a search warrant on Reichert's property and found several violations -- a gazebo in the backyard built without a permit, a disallowed movie theater wall, overgrown and unkempt grass.

Reichert has since been trying to correct the code violations, the newspaper reported, but his lawyer says it might take roughly $250,000 to get in compliance.

But the more serious toll the ordeal has taken is on Reichert's health: “I haven’t really been able to enjoy anything in the last six months,” Reichert told the newspaper. “This used to be where I could go to relax and meet people, and half the time I’m too uncomfortable at my own house now.”

What once seemed like a way to alleviate his symptoms has turned into a nightmare mired in bureaucracy and seemingly advanced by new neighbors more worried more about about a little noise than the well-being of a well-intentioned neighbor like Reichert.

“My life is turned upside down because I don’t have a grounded place anymore,” Reichert told the Statesman, adding his Asperger’s symptoms have returned now he breaks out in hives from the stress. “I think I have to go look around other states and try to find a new place to move the theater to."

Austin once was a haven for the artistic and creative, yet now many artists can no longer afford to stay in the city given ever-rising property rates. Those price hikes are driven largely by new commercial construction bolstering the property base -- and its attendant tax rates -- in its midst.

A case in point of that exodus are musicians. More than 1,200 music industry jobs in Austin lost in a four-year span, according to a recent study.

To be sure, there are still artists able to stay in spite of rising costs. But against a backdrop dramatically altering the landscape of Austin, many newly arrived residents might not be able to afford -- figuratively, it would seem -- to have artists around them.

And among the fading vestiges of what Austin once was, the "secret theater" might very well become the latest casualty of that transformation.

Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman >>

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