Twilight Theatre
Greensburg Kansas USA
Greensburg Kansas USA
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Twilight to see sun rise on new facility
By Mark Anderson, Editor Kiowa County Signal
Plans for the rebuilding of Greensburg’s Twilight Theatre will be a significant step Monday morning when the theater’s nonprofit board closes on a three-lot tract on Main Street for that purpose.
With construction expected to begin sometime in the first quarter of 2008, the new, state-of-the-art theater will be located on the southeast corner of Florida and Main, directly across the street from the Centera Bank, the lone Main Street structure left standing after the May 4 tornado that virtually wiped out the remainder of town.
Greensburg native and current Wichita restaurateur, Larry Burke, has worked closely since last summer with Warren Theatres president Bill Warren to bring the Twilight’s reemergence to fruition as quickly as possible.
According to Burke, Warren is committed to donating the projection and sound equipment, as well as the interior décor, at a value of up to $500,000.
While the project has been tagged at a cost of $1.2 million previously, Burke said Thursday that price could rise because of working out such unique features in the new Twilight as designing it to serve double duty as both a movie theater and public auditorium with a performing stage.
“Doing that and including things like a thermal well are going to move the price up, but I won’t have definite numbers until early December,” Burke said. “But I think it’s a fair statement that Bill’s going to make sure, financially, that this gets built as a very nice theatre. The more money we can find beyond that, the nicer it will be. We could see this go from a gold to a platinum version if we can find enough cash.”
Burke indicated some of that cash may be coming from Hollywood itself in the form of “background donations,” due to Warren having what Burke calls “connections out there.”
A unique design…
The Twilight Board had been engaged in selling $250,000 worth of state tax credits for the remodeling of the theater when the tornado struck town last May. A feature of that remodeling—providing a movable screen that would allow the stage area to be used for live performances—is being incorporated into the design for the new facility, though with a different twist.
Burke explained that because the projection/sound system will be of the state-of-the-art THX variety, the 60-foot wide screen will have to remain fixed, due to the size of the large speaker towers to be located directly behind it.
“Instead of the screen being moved, we’ll design a drop to be placed in front of it to protect it when the stage is being used for a performance,” Burke said. The screen in the original theatre was 42-feet wide.
Another feature of the new theater increasing the cost is the inclusion of stage lighting for live performances.
While those who’ve visited one of Warren’s massive theatre complexes in Wichita might be expecting a similar 1930’s era décor in the Twilight, Burke said the look instead will incorporate as much of the original theater’s appearance as possible.
“People who were familiar with the inside of the old theater will definitely see a resemblance,” Burke said.
He also noted that while the interior design will be handled by the same Kansas City firm that draws up the inside look of Warren’s theaters, the local board will have the ultimate say.
“If the board wants it pink, it’ll be pink,” he said. “They’ll have a definite say in this.”
A prime location…
While the theater board had originally counted on rebuilding on their original site in the middle of the first block south of US 54, it soon became apparent the 400-seat, dual-use stage theater Warren and Burke were planning would need more than the two city lots previously in use.
Getting a third lot to either side, however, remained problematic as time went on, prompting the board to look elsewhere.
“We tried to get another lot to the south of us where Duckwalls was, but we had trouble finding and getting in touch with the holders of the property,” Janssen said. “The owner of the lot to the north (where Starla’s Stitch and Frame was located as a tenant) said he’d sell it to us, but he never would put a price on it.
“So when these three lots became available to us, it seemed like the perfect spot. It’s on the corner, and with it being a two-story structure it’ll anchor the corner visually with that height, exactly like the architects tell us it needs to be.”
The three lots to be used were formerly occupied by The Peoples Bank, H&R Block and The Last Tangle hair salon.
Getting on the same page…
In Greensburg last Thursday to look over the future location of the theater, Burke said he hoped to set up a meeting in Greensburg by mid-November between himself, Warren, the board, and the Wichita architect Warren typically uses, Ron Spangenberg.
“We need to be able to do that soon, to have Ron there in Greensburg, so he can get a look at the site,” Burke said. “That way all of us can get on the same page as to where we go next with this.”
For his part, Janssen said such a meeting should be beneficial.
“I’d like to get a look at whatever they’ve got for drawings on this so far,” Janssen said. “I’ve heard from BNIM people (Kansas City architectural firm designing the new USD 422 school and Greensburg’s master plan) that I’ve talked to that Spangenberg is the best architect you can get in Wichita, so this ought to be quite a design.”
“Ron’s done this before for Bill,” Burke noted, “and his contractors know what to do in putting up a theater, so once we get together and come to a consensus this should move pretty quickly.”
Quickly enough for folks to be viewing movies within a year’s time?
“That’s what I’m expecting,” Burke said. “That’s very doable to have this thing open by next October.”
Janssen meanwhile said the theater board should have right at $600,000 available for the project by the end of this year. Of that, $357,000 has come from the sale of tax credits originally sold toward the old theater’s remodeling, Peoples Bank having bought up the last $39,000 worth.
Another $200,000 has been collected from insurance, while Board President Farrell Allison said the board could get up to another $50,000 by December in unsold tax credits from the state’s Department of Commerce.
The Warren connection…
While Burke’s interest in his hometown’s recovery is obvious, the involvement of Warren involves more than the entrepreneur’s love of building theaters, as strong as that passion happens to be.
Before opening the Copper Oven Café and Bakery in Wichita several years ago, Burke worked for Warren from 1995 through 2002 as he hit his stride building ever larger, state-of-the-art theaters in Kansas and Oklahoma.
“I started out working as manager for him,” Burke told The Signal. “The I went into concept development and finally worked in the area of food service in theatres. So I know quite a bit about this even though I’ve been out of it a little while.
“Bill’s a friend of mine, so it didn’t take much convincing when we first talked about working together to bring something special like this to Greensburg. I’m just glad they were able to get the land matter settled so we can get on with this.”
Janssen, meanwhile, was also pleased the available site became available.
“While it would have been nice to build this on the original site it seemed like we were spinning our wheels getting the additional lot,” Janssen said. “At the same time, Larry and Bill were pushing us to get the location set so we could move forward, so we went looking for another site, and Scott’s (Brown, local auctioneer and realtor) done a good job getting this set up.
“I’m glad we can get this done as quickly as they’re talking about. It’s one of the best things we can do for downtown and the community.
“With Care and Share starting to build and now this theater being up in a year’s time, we’re going to have a couple of nice buildings on Main Street before you know it, and that sends a big message that downtown’s on its way back, and in a big way.
“And right now that’s as good a message as we could hope to send.”
By Mark Anderson, Editor Kiowa County Signal
Plans for the rebuilding of Greensburg’s Twilight Theatre will be a significant step Monday morning when the theater’s nonprofit board closes on a three-lot tract on Main Street for that purpose.
With construction expected to begin sometime in the first quarter of 2008, the new, state-of-the-art theater will be located on the southeast corner of Florida and Main, directly across the street from the Centera Bank, the lone Main Street structure left standing after the May 4 tornado that virtually wiped out the remainder of town.
Greensburg native and current Wichita restaurateur, Larry Burke, has worked closely since last summer with Warren Theatres president Bill Warren to bring the Twilight’s reemergence to fruition as quickly as possible.
According to Burke, Warren is committed to donating the projection and sound equipment, as well as the interior décor, at a value of up to $500,000.
While the project has been tagged at a cost of $1.2 million previously, Burke said Thursday that price could rise because of working out such unique features in the new Twilight as designing it to serve double duty as both a movie theater and public auditorium with a performing stage.
“Doing that and including things like a thermal well are going to move the price up, but I won’t have definite numbers until early December,” Burke said. “But I think it’s a fair statement that Bill’s going to make sure, financially, that this gets built as a very nice theatre. The more money we can find beyond that, the nicer it will be. We could see this go from a gold to a platinum version if we can find enough cash.”
Burke indicated some of that cash may be coming from Hollywood itself in the form of “background donations,” due to Warren having what Burke calls “connections out there.”
A unique design…
The Twilight Board had been engaged in selling $250,000 worth of state tax credits for the remodeling of the theater when the tornado struck town last May. A feature of that remodeling—providing a movable screen that would allow the stage area to be used for live performances—is being incorporated into the design for the new facility, though with a different twist.
Burke explained that because the projection/sound system will be of the state-of-the-art THX variety, the 60-foot wide screen will have to remain fixed, due to the size of the large speaker towers to be located directly behind it.
“Instead of the screen being moved, we’ll design a drop to be placed in front of it to protect it when the stage is being used for a performance,” Burke said. The screen in the original theatre was 42-feet wide.
Another feature of the new theater increasing the cost is the inclusion of stage lighting for live performances.
While those who’ve visited one of Warren’s massive theatre complexes in Wichita might be expecting a similar 1930’s era décor in the Twilight, Burke said the look instead will incorporate as much of the original theater’s appearance as possible.
“People who were familiar with the inside of the old theater will definitely see a resemblance,” Burke said.
He also noted that while the interior design will be handled by the same Kansas City firm that draws up the inside look of Warren’s theaters, the local board will have the ultimate say.
“If the board wants it pink, it’ll be pink,” he said. “They’ll have a definite say in this.”
A prime location…
While the theater board had originally counted on rebuilding on their original site in the middle of the first block south of US 54, it soon became apparent the 400-seat, dual-use stage theater Warren and Burke were planning would need more than the two city lots previously in use.
Getting a third lot to either side, however, remained problematic as time went on, prompting the board to look elsewhere.
“We tried to get another lot to the south of us where Duckwalls was, but we had trouble finding and getting in touch with the holders of the property,” Janssen said. “The owner of the lot to the north (where Starla’s Stitch and Frame was located as a tenant) said he’d sell it to us, but he never would put a price on it.
“So when these three lots became available to us, it seemed like the perfect spot. It’s on the corner, and with it being a two-story structure it’ll anchor the corner visually with that height, exactly like the architects tell us it needs to be.”
The three lots to be used were formerly occupied by The Peoples Bank, H&R Block and The Last Tangle hair salon.
Getting on the same page…
In Greensburg last Thursday to look over the future location of the theater, Burke said he hoped to set up a meeting in Greensburg by mid-November between himself, Warren, the board, and the Wichita architect Warren typically uses, Ron Spangenberg.
“We need to be able to do that soon, to have Ron there in Greensburg, so he can get a look at the site,” Burke said. “That way all of us can get on the same page as to where we go next with this.”
For his part, Janssen said such a meeting should be beneficial.
“I’d like to get a look at whatever they’ve got for drawings on this so far,” Janssen said. “I’ve heard from BNIM people (Kansas City architectural firm designing the new USD 422 school and Greensburg’s master plan) that I’ve talked to that Spangenberg is the best architect you can get in Wichita, so this ought to be quite a design.”
“Ron’s done this before for Bill,” Burke noted, “and his contractors know what to do in putting up a theater, so once we get together and come to a consensus this should move pretty quickly.”
Quickly enough for folks to be viewing movies within a year’s time?
“That’s what I’m expecting,” Burke said. “That’s very doable to have this thing open by next October.”
Janssen meanwhile said the theater board should have right at $600,000 available for the project by the end of this year. Of that, $357,000 has come from the sale of tax credits originally sold toward the old theater’s remodeling, Peoples Bank having bought up the last $39,000 worth.
Another $200,000 has been collected from insurance, while Board President Farrell Allison said the board could get up to another $50,000 by December in unsold tax credits from the state’s Department of Commerce.
The Warren connection…
While Burke’s interest in his hometown’s recovery is obvious, the involvement of Warren involves more than the entrepreneur’s love of building theaters, as strong as that passion happens to be.
Before opening the Copper Oven Café and Bakery in Wichita several years ago, Burke worked for Warren from 1995 through 2002 as he hit his stride building ever larger, state-of-the-art theaters in Kansas and Oklahoma.
“I started out working as manager for him,” Burke told The Signal. “The I went into concept development and finally worked in the area of food service in theatres. So I know quite a bit about this even though I’ve been out of it a little while.
“Bill’s a friend of mine, so it didn’t take much convincing when we first talked about working together to bring something special like this to Greensburg. I’m just glad they were able to get the land matter settled so we can get on with this.”
Janssen, meanwhile, was also pleased the available site became available.
“While it would have been nice to build this on the original site it seemed like we were spinning our wheels getting the additional lot,” Janssen said. “At the same time, Larry and Bill were pushing us to get the location set so we could move forward, so we went looking for another site, and Scott’s (Brown, local auctioneer and realtor) done a good job getting this set up.
“I’m glad we can get this done as quickly as they’re talking about. It’s one of the best things we can do for downtown and the community.
“With Care and Share starting to build and now this theater being up in a year’s time, we’re going to have a couple of nice buildings on Main Street before you know it, and that sends a big message that downtown’s on its way back, and in a big way.
“And right now that’s as good a message as we could hope to send.”
New theater may sell popcorn by end of year
By Mark Anderson, Editor Kiowa County Signal
Jan 4th 2008
Twilight Theatre Board Treasurer John Janssen affirmed last Thursday the completion of a new facility before the end of 2008 remains a possibility.
“If we can get some things settled in our meeting next Monday (January 7, in Wichita) so that we have an idea of what kind of money we’re going to need and how much we’re still short, we can get started toward getting that right away,” Janssen said. “I don’t see why we couldn’t have it done by the end of the year.”
The meeting to which the Greensburg Mayor was referring was set to take place between him, Wichita Architectural firm Spangenberg and Phillips and theatre board president Farrell Allison.
Leading to that meeting, however, was an extended phone conversation Janssen held the morning of December 28 with Bill Warren, owner of Warren Theatres in Wichita. According to Janssen, it was the first time a theatre board member has been able to speak directly with Warren in regard to his promised contributions to the new Twilight that had previously been communicated indirectly through Greensburg native Larry Burke, who himself used to work for Warren, and now runs a Wichita restaurant.
According to Janssen, Warren assured him of still intending to contribute a sizeable share of the new theatre’s infrastructure.
“Bill told me he is in for the seats (400 of them, similar to the luxury seating featured in Warren’s Wichita theatres), the screen, projection system, sound system and most of the concession equipment,” Janssen said. “And he’ll also pay the architectural fees.” Those fees will, of course, be paid to Spangenberg and Phillips; the same firm that’s designed Warren’s Theatres in Wichita and elsewhere.
Though finalization of land acquisition took longer than expected, the theatre board now has in hand the deeds to the three lots directly south of the still standing Centera Bank building at the corner of Main and Florida. While the former theatre had stood on the other side of the bank on two lots, more space was needed for what will be a larger facility.
Janssen said the board currently holds around $630,000 derived from the sale of state tax credits and insurance proceeds. “How close that comes to what we’ll need is something I hope to find out in our meeting in Wichita,” Janssen said.
Once possible source of making up whatever shortfall there may be is gaining grant money from USDA Rural Development. Janssen said USDA State Director Chuck Banks recently told him such funds may be available, especially if a cooperative agreement can be worked out between the theatre and school district.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Darin (Headrick, USD 422 superintendent) about this yet,” Janssen said, “but if we go ahead and build this with a performing stage as we’ve planned, the school could use it to hold graduation, school plays and the like.
“That way they could build a bare bones assembly hall and save money to use elsewhere in the new school.”
Though he’s yet to float the idea past Headrick, Janssen said he has broached the notion to a couple of school board members, both of whom “thought it made sense.”
One possible source of funding Burke had mentioned to The Signal last October isn’t likely to pan out, according to Janssen.
“Bill told me not to count on getting anything from Hollywood on this,” Janssen said. Burke had made reference last fall to Warren being on good terms with Dan Glickman, former Wichita Congressman and current president of the Motion Picture Association. “He just indicated they’re not a very giving group on things like this.”
Now that winter’s arrived and board members have made advances on recovering from May 4, Janssen said he’s hopeful the group can make progress on the project in the next several weeks.
“We have to get the board a little more focused on this, and at this point I think they have a little more time to do that,” he said. “We need to get them together and set our immediate goals so we can get something out to our stakeholders in the theatre (of which there are around 100) as to what they can do to help in this.
“We need to get the school involved with this and once we do I think our chances of getting help from USDA will be helped.
“We’re ready to get going on this, and I hope we can do exactly that, starting this week.”
By Mark Anderson, Editor Kiowa County Signal
Jan 4th 2008
Twilight Theatre Board Treasurer John Janssen affirmed last Thursday the completion of a new facility before the end of 2008 remains a possibility.
“If we can get some things settled in our meeting next Monday (January 7, in Wichita) so that we have an idea of what kind of money we’re going to need and how much we’re still short, we can get started toward getting that right away,” Janssen said. “I don’t see why we couldn’t have it done by the end of the year.”
The meeting to which the Greensburg Mayor was referring was set to take place between him, Wichita Architectural firm Spangenberg and Phillips and theatre board president Farrell Allison.
Leading to that meeting, however, was an extended phone conversation Janssen held the morning of December 28 with Bill Warren, owner of Warren Theatres in Wichita. According to Janssen, it was the first time a theatre board member has been able to speak directly with Warren in regard to his promised contributions to the new Twilight that had previously been communicated indirectly through Greensburg native Larry Burke, who himself used to work for Warren, and now runs a Wichita restaurant.
According to Janssen, Warren assured him of still intending to contribute a sizeable share of the new theatre’s infrastructure.
“Bill told me he is in for the seats (400 of them, similar to the luxury seating featured in Warren’s Wichita theatres), the screen, projection system, sound system and most of the concession equipment,” Janssen said. “And he’ll also pay the architectural fees.” Those fees will, of course, be paid to Spangenberg and Phillips; the same firm that’s designed Warren’s Theatres in Wichita and elsewhere.
Though finalization of land acquisition took longer than expected, the theatre board now has in hand the deeds to the three lots directly south of the still standing Centera Bank building at the corner of Main and Florida. While the former theatre had stood on the other side of the bank on two lots, more space was needed for what will be a larger facility.
Janssen said the board currently holds around $630,000 derived from the sale of state tax credits and insurance proceeds. “How close that comes to what we’ll need is something I hope to find out in our meeting in Wichita,” Janssen said.
Once possible source of making up whatever shortfall there may be is gaining grant money from USDA Rural Development. Janssen said USDA State Director Chuck Banks recently told him such funds may be available, especially if a cooperative agreement can be worked out between the theatre and school district.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Darin (Headrick, USD 422 superintendent) about this yet,” Janssen said, “but if we go ahead and build this with a performing stage as we’ve planned, the school could use it to hold graduation, school plays and the like.
“That way they could build a bare bones assembly hall and save money to use elsewhere in the new school.”
Though he’s yet to float the idea past Headrick, Janssen said he has broached the notion to a couple of school board members, both of whom “thought it made sense.”
One possible source of funding Burke had mentioned to The Signal last October isn’t likely to pan out, according to Janssen.
“Bill told me not to count on getting anything from Hollywood on this,” Janssen said. Burke had made reference last fall to Warren being on good terms with Dan Glickman, former Wichita Congressman and current president of the Motion Picture Association. “He just indicated they’re not a very giving group on things like this.”
Now that winter’s arrived and board members have made advances on recovering from May 4, Janssen said he’s hopeful the group can make progress on the project in the next several weeks.
“We have to get the board a little more focused on this, and at this point I think they have a little more time to do that,” he said. “We need to get them together and set our immediate goals so we can get something out to our stakeholders in the theatre (of which there are around 100) as to what they can do to help in this.
“We need to get the school involved with this and once we do I think our chances of getting help from USDA will be helped.
“We’re ready to get going on this, and I hope we can do exactly that, starting this week.”