Twilight hoping to move project off back burner

    With City Hall and the Incubator completed and dedicated, one new bank opened long ago and a second nearing completion, not mention a 13,500 square foot retail strip mall about to open, Greensburg’s Main Street is beginning to take the shape of an actual downtown business district.

   There remains, however, a glaring gap at the corner of East Florida and Main, between the Where’d Ya Find That Antique Store and Greensburg State Bank. It’s the four-lot space meant to be occupied by the new Twilight Theatre. 

   The third anniversary of the storm that leveled the original Twilight is rapidly approaching, now less than three months away. And yet, the gap on Main Street remains, with less than half the approximately $2.5 million needed for the new theatre raised to date.   Twilight Board President Farrell Allison acknowledges a common perception that “we haven’t done much to get this done.” At the same time, he begs to differ.

   “Our board’s been very good about getting the groundwork laid for this,” Allison told The Signal Thursday. “We’ve got a builder lined up and our architect (Ron Spangenburg, who designs facilities for theater magnate Bill Warren) has the drawing and floor plans done. But our board members have been busy trying to get their lives back together since the storm, so we haven’t had anyone to work full time on raising funds.”

   Though Allison has said repeatedly his board doesn’t want to undertake construction until all the funding has been raised and is in hand, he did indicate that philosophy might be altered a bit. Lacking around $70,000 to complete its share of a $100,000 matching grant from South Central Community Foundation (SCCF), Allison said he’s hopeful that amount can be raised by May. If so, exactly one million should be in the bank, enough to at least construct the shell of the building.

   “We may go ahead and do that,” Allison said. “That way people will get a look at what it’s going to look like and hopefully be encouraged at that point to really give to get the inside done.”

   Fund raising for another main street project should be completed by May—that of the nearly completed KCU mall a block to the north. That should mean an easier time raising money for the theatre. At least that’s what Allison is hoping.

 “We’ve had a tough time raising money the last couple of years because there’s been a lot of competition for local dollars,” Allison said. “KCU (Kiowa County United) has raised over a million bucks for the mall and they’ve really been pushing to get that done. It’s a very worthwhile project and fills a big need. But now that it’s about done we can get some attention I hope as the next big project here.”

   KCU head Scott Brown acknowledges his concern has been in competition with Twilight for local money, but thinks an even bigger boost for the theatre’s funding will be the completion and use of the new Greensburg school next fall.

   “Once that’s done people will realize they now need the theatre to get finished so the school has a place to stage plays and programs like that,” Brown said, a reference to the theatre’s screen being retractable for a performing stage area at the front of the 400-plus seat facility. “I think that will really push that project to the front.”

   In the meantime various fund raising efforts continue, such as Saturday’s benefit concert being staged by the Diamond W Wranglers at the temporary GHS gym. At $20 per ticket and around 350 seating capacity, the theatre’s take of 50 percent of the gate will likely yield no more than $3,500.

  “Every bit helps,” Allison said. “The big benefit is that it’s an event that will give us a chance to put our cause out there again for folks and remind them of what we’re still working toward and what we still need.” Allison said Twilight Board member Scott Eller is set to give an update and plea for continued local support of the project.

   Other possibilities of publicity and funding are less definite, such as the hope Planet Green will give considerable exposure to the Twilight undertaking in its third season of “Greensburg” set to air this summer. Meanwhile, conversations between Twilight treasurer John Janssen and Hollywood producers continue, with Janssen hoping for the kind of financial generosity the City experienced when movie actor Leonardo DiCaprio wrote a $400,000 check to ensure the completion of the Business Incubator.

   As for the part-time status of the board members working as fundraisers, Allison said that may soon change with the prospect of SCCF having the money to employ an individual to help the board with raising the final dollars it needs. He said SCCF director Denise Unruh “is still working with us to help us get someone to do that. But whether or not that works out, we’ll get it done. This is too important for the community not to get done.”