Buy a Seat Campaign

The F. M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts Presents...

"Take Your Seats, Please."

You have just settled into your newly refurbished seat, eagerly awaiting the start of the show. You gaze at the surroundings and marvel at all you see. Even the plush carpeting beneath your feet feels wonderful. You stop to think, "This is a beautiful theater - I hope it is here for my children and grandchildren to enjoy."

Well, your thoughts are not too different from the distinguished founders of the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. In 1986, community leaders Albert R. Boscov and the late August L. Simms, together with the assistance of F.M. Kirby II and the Kirby Foundation, helped to raise the $3.3 million necessary to restore this 1938 theater. Their unselfish actions preserved the facility for future generations of grateful northeastern Pennsylvania residents.

In celebration of the Kirby Center's 20th Anniversary in 2006, we embarked on an ambitious campaign to continue to restore the theater for your future enjoyment and comfort. Its success, along with other generous gifts and grants lead to facility improvements such as new carpeting, restored seats, improved handicapped seating, and lobby wall coverings with historically accurate design elements. However, despite this progress, much more needs to be done. Among our many goals are to improve the stage area and to upgrade to advanced technologies in order to meet the changing needs of touring productions. We would also like to enhance the air conditioning system, add better security controls, and make much needed repairs to our roof. Without your help, as a non-profit, community theater, these and other necessary improvements, remain a vision.

What can you do? With your donation, ranging from $100 to $5,000, depending upon seat location, you can have your name or that of your business or a loved one, engraved on a plate and mounted to a seat. We'll also acknowledge you on one of the benefactor boards in the main lobby. Already, over 300 seats have been "purchased." So, please add your name to this impressive list and help to ensure that the F.M. Kirby Center is available for the enjoyment of future theatergoers for many years to come.

Additional information may be obtained by calling Marilyn Santarelli, Executive Director or Joanie Brenton, Director of Development, (570) 823-4599, ext. 280 or 281, respectively.

Thank You.