Vandergrift’s historic Casino Theatre soon will welcome theatergoers again.
The 121-year-old theater, which describes itself as Southwestern Pennsylvania’s oldest operating theater, was shuttered last year because of the pandemic. The Trib previously reported that the venue lost more than $70,000 in booking and show revenue since the pandemic-related shutdown.
“We are incredibly happy and excited to reopen the Casino,” said Casino Theatre president Anthony Ferrante.
Janice Oberdorf, treasurer of the nonprofit Casino Theatre Restoration and Management, said a live performance from Murphy’s 56 East Band will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“They were the last group in the Casino before the pandemic closed everything down, so we felt it only appropriate that they be the first group to open us back up,” Oberdorf said.
The Casino Theatre hasn’t welcomed audience members since December 2019, except for private party bookings.
Oberdorf said volunteers have worked throughout the shutdown to maintain the building and grounds. The theater has added an air sanitizer and new LED lights, scrubbed the floors, installed a new projector, installed three ceramic tile mosaics on the first and second floors, and painted the walls, among other improvements.
The theater bought the new projector system with the help of a $6,000 grant from the Bozzone Foundation.
“Our old one was 20 years old, and we previously had to rent actual backdrops for $800 each,” Oberdorf said.
The new projector, which will allow for digital projections of visuals for performances, will save the theater thousands of dollars annually, Oberdorf said.
Oberdorf said materials were donated by Chuck Smith, Three Rivers Art Glass, Shannon Downes and Johnny Carpet.
56 East Band bills itself as a premier dance/party band. Attendees can expect to hear songs from the 1960s to the present performed by a full-sized band complete with a horn section.
Formed in 2017, the band features lead vocalist Mary Ann Mangini, a teacher at Riverview School District in Oakmont.
Theater volunteer Brady Bottegal said the reopening will help to replenish the theater’s coffers.
“We depend solely on the support from our patrons to keep the theater alive, so we want to make this show special for them,” Bottegal said.
The theater is planning to offer birthday cake to patrons at intermission. It canceled its 120th anniversary celebration last year because of the pandemic, so the theater is dubbing this weekend’s celebration a 120th (Plus-1) Birthday Celebration.
“We had a similar celebration 21 years ago when the theater turned 100, and we wanted to do it again,” Bottegal said.
The Casino Theatre opened in 1900 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Former guests and performers at the Casino include President William Howard Taft, The Three Stooges, Mickey Rooney, Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers and his horse, Trigger.
Casino Theatre Restoration and Management formed in the early 1990s. It reopened the theater in 1995 and has been utilizing a core of 100% volunteers to restore it since.
The theater is owned by Vandergrift Borough, which leases the building to the nonprofit for $1 annually.
