SEQUIM – Standing on the lip of the old building, looking into the gaping hole where a new building would be, Lee Harwell observed: “This first step’s a doozy.”

The Olympic Theatre Arts board has taken that first step anyway, said Harwell, managing director of OTA.

The board has hired Bill Thomas, mayor of Sequim from 1996 to 2002, to oversee construction of OTA’s main stage.

During the next eight weeks, Thomas will supervise the building of the floor, walls and roof for the playhouse, which will have 170 seats.

The road here has not run smooth.

In February, Sequim Public Works Director James Bay posted a “do not occupy” order on OTA’s front door after declaring the old building unsafe.

In the middle of its run on OTA’s small stage, “Auntie Mame” had to move, elaborate sets and all, across the street to the Sequim High School Performing Arts building.

OTA’s next show, “The Fantasticks,” was supposed to run for several weeks in the theater at 414 N. Sequim Ave.

It too went to the high school, where it played on Memorial Day weekend only.

The “do not occupy” notice still hangs on the door, and last week OTA’s building lay dark.

But Thomas and Stoltz see stage lights at the end of this tunnel.