A live production of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, The Great Gatsby, will take place next weekend to benefit the Paper City Cinemas.
The production is being put on by Paper City Cinemas and the Paper City Players, and is sponsored by Horizon Telcom, Inc.
“We have a lot of great actors and local talent in this production,” said organizer Joey Manna. “Our dreams are to open a movie theatre but another of our dreams is to support local talent and help showcase actors in our community, and this will go a long way in helping us do that. Horizon is sponsoring the show which helps us put on the play itself.”
The Great Gatsby performances will run from Thursday, August 12th through Sunday, August 15th at Chillicothe's First Presbyterian Church. Tickets to attend the performances of The Great Gatsby are $15 a piece and can be purchased through the website: www.papercitycinemas.com There's also a dinner theatre option as well with tickets for adults costing $30 and tickets for seniors and children at $25.
The shows will benefit Manna's effort to establish the Paper City Cinemas. As a longtime professional in the movie theatre industry, Manna is working to open a new movie theatre in Chillicothe which would bring both modern and classic movies to the big screen.
“We started this idea about opening a theatre here in town about a year ago,” said Manna. “We were in talks about maybe purchasing Danberry but they couldn’t come down on the price. Another location in town we’ve looked at is the former Big Bear in Central Center. We haven’t decided on a firm location but we have had some businesses come through in wanting to help us raise funds, and this event will be the first fundraiser to help us open up the theatre.”
A movie theatre is now desperately needed in the Chillicothe community, due to it having lost its local theatre, Danberry Cinemas, to the pandemic.