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Grant will support Denis Theatre project
By Melanie Vignovich
for The Almanac
November 12, 2008
The Denis Theatre Foundation received its first six-figure gift for the extensive $3 million renovation and planned re-opening of the Mt. Lebanon landmark as an independent film house and community cultural center.
Anne Kemerer, the foundation's executive director, announced the $100,000 gift, given by David and Donna Gerson of Mt. Lebanon, at an Oct. 29 event celebrating the upcoming start of the 27th annual 3 Rivers Film Festival. The Denis will serve as a South Hills venue for the festival's two-week, city-wide film series.
"Investing in the Denis Theatre Foundation is, for us, not just a way to get back what our community has lost," David Gerson said in an earlier statement, "but truly a way to create something far, far better - a venue for independent films, local filmmakers... community performing arts, and more. "
The Denis first opened in 1938 and, in its heyday, showed Pittsburgh's first run of The Graduate and To Sir with Love, films considered avant-garde at the time.
Efforts to re-open the theater began not long after it was closed in 2004 by then-owner Milo Ritton.
Kemerer and Mt. Lebanon tech entrepreneur D. Raja teamed up to conduct feasibility studies with architects, film professionals, municipal planners, and residents. They determined that renovation was viable and community interest was high enough to move forward.
Raja purchased the property from Ritton in 2007 for $668,500. In 2008 The Denis Theatre Foundation became a nonprofit organization and kicked off a campaign in April to raise the $3 million needed for the project. Raja, who now holds elected office as a Mt. Lebanon commissioner, is no longer involved with management of the project or the foundation.
To date, $238,060 has been donated to the campaign, a total which includes four other major gifts of $10,000 to $50,000 each.
The board set out with the goal of raising $1 million by the end of this year but, "With the economy the way it is, we realize we have to be flexible with our goals," said Mary Jo Meenen, a member of the foundation's board of directors who is leading the fund-raising for major gifts.
The foundation is also hoping for state funding, including a Main Street Anchor Building grant of up to $500,000, as well as support from private foundations and corporate donors but, Meenen said, "We need to depend on individual donors."
She and other project leaders are confident that community support will be wide-spread.
"Mt. Lebanon has always had a theater," said Kemerer. "It's one of the things that make Mt. Lebanon unique."
Though the venue's historical value is key, the new Denis Theatre will offer much more than its predecessor, Kemerer promises. In addition to showing independent, and occasionally mainstream, films on three new screens, plans include turning the theater into a dynamic community center with a stage for concerts and lectures, meeting space for community groups, and educational programming for local film students. "Green" features and LEED certification are also in the plans.
The 3 Rivers Film Festival and its parent organization, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, have been proponents and advisors for the Denis project. "It's an enormously valuable project for Pittsburgh ... and for independent film," said Pittsburgh Filmmakers director Andrew Swensen.
Kemerer said the project will move forward as funding becomes available, with the next steps being architectural design and selection of a general contractor. If the $3 million needed were available today, the Denis could re-open in 18 to 24 months.
In the meantime, efforts to increase donations, volunteers, and awareness for the project will continue. Meenen and Kemerer say the foundation wants to give donors the opportunity to support the project with any dollar amount, from raffles to benefit galas, and even a "registry" for needed construction materials at locally-owned Rollier's hardware.
"I think people now feel they have a real opportunity to bring the Denis back," Kemerer said, "and they're empowered."