Apprentices Helping To Restore Kelly-Strayhorn Theater Into Community Gathering Place

EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) -- It's the 15th season for the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, or 102nd year, depending on how you look at it.

The original Regent Theater fell into disrepair several times. But once again a centerpiece of East Liberty, there's still work to be done.

Rehabilitation supervisor Calvin Nolen talks detail work with young men learning their trade through the non-profit Operation Better Block.

Better Block apprentice Von Washington says working on the old theater is a valuable opportunity.

"It helps me, because I'm learning more job experience. I'm networking more. I'm just getting more experience and meeting new people," he said.

Kelly-Strayhorn Executive Director Janera Solomon is working tirelessly to restore the theater.

"We were in a neighborhood that had lots of theaters, and this is the last one standing," Solomon says. "For me, that means there's something really special here that's worth preserving."

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The Full Bloom Summer Dance Party on Saturday night is the biggest fundraiser of the year. After the VIP event, starting at 9 p.m., admission is whatever you feel you can afford.

Meanwhile, Nolen continues his work, restoring a theater and changing lives.

"The feeling is indescribable when you know you had your hand in doing it," he says. "That's why I want them to feel that. When they come in here with their mothers or their sons, or their children, or their daughters or their aunts, uncles or friends come in here - they can say, look at that."