You can forgive Capital Stage's Stephanie Gularte for needing a moment.

Usually cool, measured and unflappable, Gularte can't help but feel some emotion while sitting with co-founders Jonathan Williams and Peter Mohrmann in their new performance space.

"It feels like we've really accomplished something, and there's a great deal of pride and real sense that this is what we're supposed to be doing," said Gularte, the company's founding artistic director.

Capital Stage opens its new theater this weekend at 2215 J St. in a building that once housed the Old Armory Gun Shop. The initial production at the freshly minted theater is playwright Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts," making its Sacramento premiere.

The move gives the professional theater company a sense of belonging, plus a powerful sense of place they haven't had.

"What we bring is very high-quality work," Mohrmann said. "Now we've got the packaging to go around it and match what we've been doing on stage."

For the past six years, Capital Stage performed in the Delta Theatre on the riverboat Delta King in Old Sacramento. If you didn't know about their last home, you're not alone. Even company members often felt hidden away despite marketing that was as consistently savvy as any arts organization in Sacramento.

There's no hiding now. Capital Stage is out in the open. A striking aluminum sign beckons from the distinctively painted, sienna- colored building, located amid the action of busy J Street.

"People who walk by the building notice us right away," Gularte said. "We have so much more of a spotlight on us in this new location but also an incredible support from the local businesses and the people who live around here."

An arts group is a perfect fit for this area, said Amber Schmaeling, marketing and outreach manager of the Midtown Business Association.

"People are looking for a synergy of play, eat, dine, and it's really that outlet for social interaction as well as entertainment and community," Schmaeling said.

Midtown certainly has rolled out a welcome mat for company members.

"In our previous location, we didn't hear from our neighbors and were sort of off on our own. Here, we're already very much a part of the community," Gularte said.

Tamaya Sushi and the Tapas-Kasbah complex, for instance, are just a block away. They and other businesses stand to benefit from the increased foot traffic and visibility the theater brings.

"We've always talked about being not just part of the artistic community but the larger Sacramento community," said co-founder Williams. "I personally have never felt that connection before the way I do now in this location.

"Being part of the business community here, the level of support and camaraderie that happens right here in midtown is unlike what we experienced in Old Town Sacramento."

Williams has spent nearly every day at the building for the past six months, managing the $300,000 renovation. Capital Stage has raised all but $15,000 of the funds for the theater construction and design.

"It was a huge community-type effort," Williams said of the physical work that was done. "People who are Cap Stagers, board members, subscribers, volunteers, not professionals who we were hiring to come in and make sure this thing happened."

The 125-seat theater has a thrust stage that allows the audience to sit on three sides and increases Capital Stage's seating capacity by about 12 percent.

"It's a real theater – we have the height to do real lighting," Williams said.

He feels they've now matched their technical standards with their artistic level. Williams is most proud of creating a space "from the ground up that works for the kind of theater we want to do, embracing that level of intimacy that we really like."

The company now can influence the audience's complete playgoing experience. That goal extends from the ambience in the lobby to locally created concessions featuring area bakers and coffee roasters.

"You're not going to find any Snickers at our snack bar," Gularte said with a laugh. "We're really looking at the entire audience experience from the time they walk in the door. We want people to think of our theater as an exciting alternative to other forms of entertainment."

Yet, like any other creation, this new theater will take time to come together.

"We all look forward to figuring out what the new space means and know that it's probably going to take the full season to know what the strengths of the space are, what the challenges of the space are," Gularte said.

After a year of nonstop fundraising and the long summer of actual building, the company will focus on the business of theater.

"We look forward to getting back into a rhythm and the normal craziness of producing theater," Gularte said.

There's been a lot of emotion and reflection as they reach this milestone in their growth and development, and now the company wants to see how it pays off.

"The biggest thing is not having to push our identity so hard," Gularte said.

"The space speaks for itself. The location speaks for itself. What we've tried to do with the space is so much more reflective of who we are, and we now can put focus on the work."

Call The Bee's Marcus Crowder, (916) 321-1120.

ONLINE

To see video from the new Capital Stage theater, go to

videos. sacbee.comSUPERIOR DONUTS

WHAT: Capital Stage presents a comedy by Pulitzer Prize- winning playwright Tracy Letts about a former '60s radical who runs a business in a modern milieu of cultures and generations.

WHERE: 2215 J St., Sacramento

WHEN: Preview at 8 tonight; opening night 8 p.m. Saturday. Continues at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8 p.m Thursdays and Fridays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 13.

TICKETS: $18 preview, $38 opening night; $20-$32 other nights INFORMATION: (916) 995-5464, www.capstage.org

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Call The Bee's Marcus Crowder, (916) 321-1120.

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