Sewickley’s Tull Family Theater will be renamed next year
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The Tull Family Theater, a Sewickley nonprofit, will be going by a new name for at least the next decade.
It is being renamed The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center — or “The Lindsay,” for short — effective Jan. 1 ,2023.
The change is part of a 10-year sponsorship by The Corry Family Foundation. Officials made the formal announcement Wednesday morning.
The Corry Family’s multi-year gift is a tribute to their late, much-adored daughter and sister, Lindsay Nicole Corry.
“We have invaluable memories of our family enjoying the theater together,” said sister Alexis Corry Kappel. “We have witnessed the theater’s breadth of service and programming, and believe this is a fitting way to honor Lindsay’s exuberance, creativity and compassion.”
Lindsay Corry graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with honors, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and had a successful business career in private equity in New York City.
She lived with Type 1 diabetes since infancy and, in January 2020, was diagnosed with cancer. She died in August 2021 at the age 30.
“We have always been a very close family,” Kappel said. “Fortunately, we were able to spend most of our time with Lindsay over the 18-month period from when she was diagnosed with cancer until she passed away.”
Carolina Pais-Barreto Thor, the theater’s chief executive officer, thanked the family foundation for their generous unrestricted gift. She said it will go toward building maintenance, operational costs and other “hard-to-fund” needs.
“It’s an honor to be selected as an organization to remember her, and it’s an honor to be selected as an organization that the family believes reflects who she was and her artistic expression,” Thor said.
The foundation and theater declined to disclose the gift amount. The theater has been open year-‘round, covid not withstanding, and its annual budget is about $1 million. It has five full-time employees and several part-time box office staffers.
“While we look to the past with gratitude, the new name ushers in a new era for the organization,” Thor said. “‘The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center’ reflects our growing service to the region, beyond cinema.”
Alexis, owner of the Sewickley boutique Lex & Lynne, said she started her business in 2011 with the encouragement of her younger sister, who also was an artist and photographer.
The venture has gained national and international recognition for supporting female artisans in Mexico and donating 15% of its proceeds to children with Type 1 diabetes.
The Tull Family Theater is an independent, film-driven arts nonprofit. Its mission is to strengthen cultural, educational and entertainment experiences northwest of Pittsburgh. It houses two screening rooms and has a flexible event/performance space.
It made Pennsylvania history as the first cinema in the state offering weekly open captioning screenings.
The Theater sponsors Filmmakers in Residence and Cinema Maker Sessions, a career readiness program for underserved middle-schoolers.
Its programs are also supported by more than 1,000 individual donors and contributions from The Tull Family Foundation, Huntington Bank, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Raymond C. and Martha S. Suckling Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, W.P. Snyder III Charitable Fund, Thomas Marshall Foundation, A.J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust, Jack Buncher Foundation, Child Health Association of Sewickley, Sewickley Valley Community Fund, The Grable Foundation, Allegheny County Airport Charitable Foundation and Dollar Bank.
More information is available at thetullfamilytheater.org.