Old theater to get new life
So many of us were heartbroken when Butler City Council voted Oct. 27 to tear down the Penn Theater. But that sorrow quickly turned to delight and anticipation when, two weeks later, we learned the theater would get a second chance after all.
Bryan Frenchak, described in the Nov. 11 edition of the Butler Eagle as a “knight in shining armor,” came through for the Penn Theater. The former resident of Butler County, now living in Houston, Texas, has offered the Butler Redevelopment Authority $65,000 to begin the process of saving the theater. Brian McCaffrey, chairman of the authority, called it a “tentative agreement.“
One day soon, the Art Deco-style theater could be the anchor for the city’s ”Arts and Cultural District,“ which had a huge open house Oct. 8.
A newly restored Penn Theater could do for Butler what the Strand Theater has done for nearby Zelienople. Ron Carter, president and executive director of the Strand, has said it’s brought in millions of dollars in revenue to Zelie — not just in ticket sales but in terms of people patronizing the city’s restaurants and shopping at its boutiques.
He said the Stand draws visitors from 17 surrounding counties and 17 states.
That can happen here. People will come from out of town to take in a Broadway show in Butler. And while here, they’ll dine in our eateries, visit our eclectic blend of shops and put their feet up in our hotels — all within easy walking distance of the Penn.
The theater will benefit the city in yet another way. We’ve all heard complaints from young people that there’s nothing to do in Butler. So having a theater for movies and live shows — similar to what the Strand is doing now — would create new entertainment options for the entire community.
We have the opportunity. All it takes is a little vision.
And a lot of fix-up work, which of course costs a good deal of money. But we firmly believe that the money invested in the theater will come back into the city.
If it turns out that repairs are too expensive — that a decade has pushed the cost of fixes to ridiculous levels ← the theater still doesn’t have to be demolished. There’s another, less expensive option: We can do what Sacramento, Calif., did with its Esquire Theater.
That historic theater was too expensive to fix. But rather than tear the whole building down, they kept the façade and built an entirely new theater behind it. Now it’s the Esquire IMAX.
Look up the Esquire online. You will see its glowing, shiny building with Art Deco styling — similar to that of the Penn. Take a look at that and imagine it as part of downtown Butler.
Either a full revitalization or a glorious façade. Either way, it’s preserving history and creating an area of bright instead of an area of blight.
As to what sort of programming should go on in the new Penn, it’s a bit too early to say. Perhaps live performances and classic movies from the 1940s. But that’s not the only possibility; there’s so much more that can be done with such a valuable resource.
—LZ
