The Centre Theater Installs New Marquee

The Centre Theater's year long renovation is beginning to come to a conclusion with the first of two major additions to the building. The Theatre, at 208 DeKalb Street, will have its new marquee erected on March 5 just a few days after the opening of the company's next production, Fool for Love. This marquee is the first of two additions to the front of Norristown's anchor theatre. Designed and constructed byBartush Signs, the new marquee will enable the theatre to advertise all production work taking place in the venue.

The 18 foot wide sign includes the name of the Theatre in twelve inch letter and two lines for the "Now Playing" information. The sign is backlit to accent the current show's title and the name The Centre Theater information and accented by Neon/LED lights wrapping around the ends of the sign, which extends in total about 18 inches from the face of the building.

The second phase of the construction, happening in about a month, includes the addition of a 23 foot vertical blade sign with "THE CENTRE THEATER" emblazoned on it. The sign will extend several stories vertically on the front of the theatre and will echo the Gas and Electric Sign that was once in the same position at 208 DeKalb in the 1930s. The Norristown Historic Commissioner has approved the design, especially in relationship to its historic echoes. 

Bartush Signs, in continuous operation since 1942 will be installing the sign between 11am and 3 pm on Monday, March 5 above the main entrance of The Centre Theater's 208 DeKalb Street location in Norristown.  Bartush Signs designs, fabricates, and installs signs for customers throughout Pennsylvania as well as Maryland, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Jersey.

As automation has come to the sign business, Bartush Signs has embraced it. By utilizing computer graphics and a computer-driven routing system, including a new state-of-the-art water jet routing system, Bartush Signs is able to fabricate virtually any type of custom sign in house. Bartush Signs is constantly researching new ideas, tools, and processes; experimenting with them and implementing them. Bartush Signs utilizes (5) state-of-the-art Crane trucks for installations and service work.

Beginning in 1998, Bartush became involved in a series of historic movie theater restorations. Each project has had slightly different requirements, but the main goal of each project has been to reproduce the theater marquee or Tower/Blade sign in a manner that is faithful to the original design, by utilizing modern materials and fabrication techniques as well as accepted engineering practices. These projects include: The County Theater, The Ambler Theater, The Bryn Mawr Theater.

The marquee is made possible by support from a group of anonymous private donors. This marquee is an extension of the renovations which began through a state grant orchestrated by Mike Vereb and is also supported by a variety of private local donors dedicated to the arts in Norristown.

Over the past year, The Centre Theater has upgraded its facility including new windows, air conditioning and heating to assure a more energy efficient environment. 

The next phase of development for The Centre Theater is to complete renovations of the First Floor to create an alternative venue bringing music and touring performers into Norristown. Activity at the Centre Theater has exploded over the past year including Dancefest, The Independent Voices Festival, Jazz Concerts, The monthly Walla Fest rock shows and new requests all of the time. The marquee will assure the community is aware of all of the happenings in Norristown's premiere performance venue.

Fool for Love opens March 2 and runs through March 25 at the Centre Theater, Norristown's professional theater at 208 DeKalb St. in downtown Norristown. Show-times are 8 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.ticketleap.com. Call 610-279-1013 for information or visit the web at www.ironagetheatre.org. 

Eddie, a broken down rodeo cowboy, has driven two thousand miles, finding May alone in a cheap motel at The Edge of the desert. He is desperate to get her back, but she wants to move on with her life after many failed attempts to live with Eddie. Their passion engulfs them and they burn with love, hatred and sadness. Punctuated by visits from Eddie's manipulative father and May's new beau, the play is filled with humor, sadness and sudden outburst of violence as two damaged souls try to reconcile the past.

Working together, the Centre Theater and Iron Age Theatre have been one of the most critically acclaimed companies in the area for over fifteen years. The Philadelphia City Paper called the companies "The area's most under-appreciated professional theater." The companies have receivEd Barrymore nominations for a number of their productions including a Best New play nod for last fall's world premiere of the boxing comedy "Molumby's Millions." 

The companies have premiered nine plays in the past two years including Citizen Paine, Waiting For The Ship from Delos, Philadelphia playwright Chris Braak's "The Life of John Henry," and  Red Emma, and Jeffrey Hatcher's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and last fall's Maroons by local playwright, Ray Saraceni. Iron Age Theatre has been invited to be a part of Philly's Play, Pie and A Pint festival in March with the US premiere of Plant's Buridan's Ass. 

The Centre Theater is in the Montgomery County Cultural Center at 208 DeKalb Street in Norristown. It is easily reached via routes 202, I-76, I-476 and Ridge Pike. There is plenty of free parking and the theater is one block from Septa's Norristown Transit Centeron the Manayunk/Norristown line.

Call 610-279-1013 for tickets and information or visit the web at www.ironagetheatre.org

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