AUSTIN, Texas — The League of Historic American Theatres, the nation’s leading historic theatre advocate, recognized outstanding achievement within the
industry when it announced that Struthers Library Theatre of Warren, Pa. is the 2018 Outstanding Historic Theatre in America.
The 1883 Historic Struthers Library Theatre took home the 2018 Outstanding Historic Theatre Award during the League’s Annual Conference, the largest gathering of historic theatre professionals in the nation. The conference took place in downtown Austin and was attended by nearly 300 historic theatre operators and service providers from across the country.
“The Historic Struthers stood out among an impressive list of nominations to claim the award this year,” said Ken Stein, LHAT President and CEO, as he presented the award to Struthers Executive Director Marcy O’Brien. The Outstanding Historic Theatre Award is given each year by LHAT to a historic theatre that has demonstrated excellence in community impact, quality of programs and services, and quality of physical restoration.
“We are so honored to take this award home to the people of Warren, Pennsylvania,” said O’Brien after the ceremony. “We received our support from our community to follow the blueprint for possibility learned from our peers and the experts at the League of Historic
American Theatres. We translated that knowledge to rebuilding both our programming and our facility to serve our rural community — a town whose soul still appreciates the importance of arts in the quality of its life.”
The Struthers celebrated its 135th anniversary with a major rehabilitation campaign that makes the theatre fully accessible to all patrons. Elevators, new seating, balcony handrails and other upgrades were part of a major fundraising campaign to ensure the theatre would remain viable for another generation of theatre goers.
