Donations For Clarksville's Roxy Theatre Building Fund Wiped Out

"In 2006," explains the website for Clarksville, Tennessee's historic Roxy Regional Theatre, "a group of artists, musicians, dancers, actors and supporters of the arts met to discuss the fate of Clarksville's arts scene. The outcome was plans for a new 36,000 square-foot state of the art CENTER FOR THE ARTS AND EDUCATION. This building, which will stretch over the current parking areas to the side and rear, will encompass a 500-seat theatre, scene shop, loading deck, dressing rooms, cafe, art galleries, dance studio and artists' studios. This next phase will cost upwards of $15 million. Currently, through phone-a-thons and individual donations, over a quarter of a million dollars has been pledged toward the center."

But according to a report by the city's Leaf-Chronicle, hundreds of thousands of dollars raised to build the center were used instead to pay operating expenses, wiping out the capital fund.

An audit of Roxy's finances found that $299,882 in donations pledged for a new building were spent to fund operations, leaving the building fund capital campaign with a zero balance by Aug. 31, 2015, when the most recent fiscal year ended.

Click here for the full article.

The Roxy Regional Theatre's next production is Ken Davenport's THE AWESOME '80s PROM, described as "a brand new blast-from-the-past party at Wanaget High's Senior Prom ... in 1989! All your favorite '80s characters are here, from the captain of the football team to the foreign exchange student, from the geek to the hottie head cheerleader, all competing for Prom King and Queen ... and just like on "American Idol," the audience decides who wins! Go back in time with this high-octane musical where you can dance to hits of the '80s along with the cast." Visit roxyregionaltheatre.org.