CENTERVILLE — Though the props and actors are still nearly a year away, the bricks and mortar are already starting to take the shape of the stages that will be waiting for them.

Construction is progressing on schedule and within budget at the Davis Cultural Arts Center (DCAC), with crews having already built the main stage area to its full height. Currently, they’re working out from there, including the masonry on the black box theater.

Though the building won’t be completed until the end of this year, vertical construction on the smaller theater should go a long way toward giving the theater its final shape.

“It will be interesting when you see the black box walls go up,” said Centerville City Assistant Manager Blaine Lutz. “People will start to get an idea of the real dimensions of the building.”

Though the main theater will stay mostly roughed-in for the moment, it is possible to make out the space for the flyloft (the open area above the stage that holds the counterweights and pulleys needed for certain scenery and effects). Crews also recently did some structural work on the theater’s risers, which will later hold seating.

In addition to the masonry for the black box theater, crews are also starting work on the steel framing for the glass that will line most of the DCAC’s front wall. The main roof for the building is likely to go up sometime in March or April

One area that’s doing well is the machinery for the theater’s heating and cooling systems, all of which is already on site. Crews are hoping to have it all in place in the machine room before the roof is put on.

“Some areas are actually ahead of schedule,” said Lutz. “Contractors have been available and willing to come in early and get started.”

If construction continues at this pace, a theater group featuring the combined members of Rodgers Memorial Theatre and the old Bountiful Performing Arts Center should be ready to take over responsibility for the building by the end of this calendar year. Their goal is to have the theater ready for audiences in time for the 2011 season.

For now, though, passers-by will have to be satisfied with seeing the shape of things to come.

“Over the next few weeks the exterior will change really fast,” said Lutz. “After that it will be harder to see the changes, because most of the work will be on the building’s interior.”

jwardell@davisclipper.com