Comments from pspenner

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pspenner
pspenner commented about Spotlight Theater of Warsaw on Mar 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

We ran the first film at The Stage in 2 ½ years last weekend. It was the new version of “True Grit” and we had wonderful response from the community: two showings over 100 attendance, one over 80 and one over 40. It was awesome! Combined with the two very successful senior matinees on the 16th and the 23rd, we are on a roll!

pspenner
pspenner commented about Spotlight Theater of Warsaw on Feb 20, 2011 at 3:29 pm

I forgot to mention the second reason I have not visited this site in a long time. Our group has been working literally day and night for several months to get the theater up and running again. It has been an enormous effort and it all came to fruition last Wednesday. Life is slightly more normal now that we are open but there is always something to do around the theater. I may not visit here often but will check in occassionally to see what up online. By the way, our new website will be up and running soon at www.TheStageofWNY.com Keep checking.

pspenner
pspenner commented about Spotlight Theater of Warsaw on Feb 20, 2011 at 3:22 pm

Hello Gang — I have not visited this site for a long time for two reasons. First, after a year of operation, the board of trustees of the WNY Performance Center was forced to close The Stage in November 2009. We mothballed the theater and were forced by the first mortgage holder to put the building up for sale. Since no one came forward to buy it (thank goodness!), we sat on it until just recently. At that time, a friend of mine offered to provide the funding to repair the film sound system. When we purchased the theater originally from Frank Versage, we were not told that the film sound system was shot. That is one of the main reasons that people did not patronize the theater towards the end of Frank’s reign. The sound is now restored to excellence and we are showing our first film the weekend of February 25-27, True Grit. We opened with a live matinee performance February 16th with 268 paid attendance thanks to support from Wyoming County Angel Action and Wyoming County Office of the Aging. I know a great deal about the history of venues at this site (the Farman Theater, the New Farman Theater, the Warsaw Cinema and The Stage), more than I could ever write in this blog. One important point: I am NOT the owner of The Stage. The theater is owned by the NFP corporation, WNYPC. I am currently the president but others have and will serve in that role. I would love to host a gathering at the theater of any of you who are contributing to this blog. Perhaps you would be interested in coming to a film showing or live performance as my guests and we can hang out afterwards with a behind the scenes tour thrown in. If anyone is interested, email me at Cordially, Paul Penner