On Stage with The Lincoln Theatre
Welcome to "On Stage with The Lincoln Theatre"—your backstage pass to the captivating history and vibrant present of one of America’s most iconic theatres! Step back in time as we explore the rich legacy of The Lincoln Theatre, a majestic Mayan Revival-style venue that first opened its doors in 1929. Nestled in the heart of Marion, Virginia, this cultural landmark has been at the center of entertainment for nearly a century, hosting everything from vaudeville acts and classic films to modern-day concerts and performances.
Join us as we pull back the curtain on the theatre’s fascinating past and dive into its current role as a cultural hub for the region. In each episode, our executive director and charismatic guide, Bob Watkins, takes center stage to share stories of the theatre’s evolution, its unforgettable moments, and the exciting events that keep audiences coming back for more. Whether you're a history buff, a theatre enthusiast, or simply curious about the arts, this podcast promises to entertain, educate, and inspire!
To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre visit:
https://www.thelincoln.org/
The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia 24354
276-783-6092
On Stage with The Lincoln Theatre
Stage Left: The Unexpected Ways A Historic Theatre Raises The Next Generation
How Does The Lincoln Theatre Collaborate With Local Non-profits And Community Organizations To Support Their Mission?
Step behind the curtain of Marion, Virginia's historic Lincoln Theatre as Executive Director Bob Watkins reveals how this magnificent 1929 Mayan revival venue balances entertainment excellence with deep community service. Far more than just a beautiful building, the Lincoln represents the intersection of arts, education, and community development.
As Bob explains, being a nonprofit themselves has given The Lincoln Theatre unique insight into the challenges similar organizations face. This understanding drives their commitment to providing substantially discounted venue rentals for community fundraisers. From hosting the Ultimate Garth Brooks tribute concert benefiting "Waiting to Hear" (providing hearing aids for children) to partnering with the Mel Lehman Free Clinic serving Southwest Virginia and Tennessee, the Lincoln consistently leverages its resources to amplify the impact of vital community services.
Where the theatre truly shines is in youth development. The Lincoln welcomes school groups for free acting workshops, hosts the week-long Missoula Children's Theater program (culminating in performances like this year's "Wizard of Oz"), and offers summer creative programs teaching everything from costume design to stage management—all at no cost to participants.
Ready to experience the magic of this community treasure? Visit online to learn more about upcoming events or stop by 117 East Main Street in Marion. Together, we can ensure the arts continue to thrive for generations to come!
To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre visit:
https://www.TheLincoln.org/
The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia 24354
276-783-6092
Welcome to On Stage with the Lincoln Theatre, where history and entertainment steal the show. Dive into the rich legacy of this iconic Mayan revival theatre, from its 1929 debut to its starring role in Marion, virginia's entertainment scene. Guiding us through this journey is the man in the spotlight, our executive director, bob Watkins. Spotlight, our executive director.
Speaker 2:Bob Watkins. The Lincoln Theater isn't just a historic venue. It's a vital part of the Marion Virginia community. Through partnerships with local nonprofits and organizations, the theater extends its mission beyond the stage to make a lasting impact in the community. Welcome back everyone. Skip Monty, here, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Executive Director Bob Watkins. Bob, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. Skip you doing okay? Yes, sir, I'm doing just fine. Now I wanted to ask you and I talked about this in a past episode or touched on it, so I'm really excited about today's episode to talk about how the Lincoln Theater collaborate with local nonprofits and community organizations to support their mission.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean here at the Lincoln we are a nonprofit organization so we know the difficulty in operating an organization with limited income coming in and support and things like that. So you know our overall goal is to always contribute back to the community and help in any way we can. We'll do a significant amount of discount on any type of rentals if a group wants to do a fundraiser here. Recently we had a Ultimate Garth Brooks fundraiser for Waiting to Hear. It's a organization for children that are needing hearing aids and Waiting to Hear is ran by Shannon Ball and he does a great job with his organization. You know we partnered with them and gave them a big discount on the rental for the venue so they could go ahead and reap some more profits on that for their organization. We have another one coming up with the Mel Lehman Free Clinic here, which is a local organization that works with providing free health care to surrounding areas of Southwest Virginia and even into Tennessee. I believe they're going to be doing a program with Light and Charlie and we're providing some free support with renting the venue and getting the stage set for them and everything like that.
Speaker 3:We're always trying to if it's donating free tickets to a silent auction to help with organizations do fundraising.
Speaker 3:Free tickets to a silent auction to help with organizations do fundraising. We do a lot of work with the schools to help some of the youth programs that they have and just kind of sharing our venue to people, so one they can come in and get their work done and taken care of with whatever fundraising they needed to do, but at the same time it's just a nice warm setting for people to come in and see Gets us out to more people that may not be here as patrons but they see the beauty within the theater and then they want to come back and share with us as well. So yeah, we'll do a lot of fundraising stuff here on site and just share our facility with them. If they needed a venue, that's what we do. If they need people, we provide that. And if they need funds and different ways to raise funds through the tickets, we go ahead and provide that. So yeah, anything we can do to give back, that's what we do.
Speaker 2:How do you select which organizations to partner with? Is there a process that you go through?
Speaker 3:Usually it's just a evaluation based on what we're able to provide. We tend to not pick and choose who and what we provide to, but whatever, you know, whatever comes in with the most need and you know what we can align with is kind of where we go. Obviously, we definitely want to provide any type of support to youth programs because you know, as we all know, the youth is our future. So we want to be definitely connected with that. Definitely connected with that. If it's going to assist our community and county, that is another high priority that we look at trying to assist with different people within the county. That is going to help some of our residents here Because, Lincoln, we've benefited from patrons all over our county and outside of the area, so we just want to give back to those people that have supported us. That's kind of where we will go ahead and focus on with the youth and county residents around here.
Speaker 2:Now you mentioned youth, supporting youth of the area, a couple of times. In what ways do you support youth in art education programs?
Speaker 3:Here. Recently there was a couple classes from Smith County School Systems that came in and we did an actor's workshop type thing to kind of show them different techniques and everything for actors. We also provided our facility free of charge no cost to those field trips to come in so they can just see a group out of Bristol that did a little play here on stage for them. So you know, we'll provide the theater free of charge for them to come in and get firsthand experience with the arts that they probably wouldn't see without that opportunity. So that's one of the ways that we do that.
Speaker 3:This is where we have been supported for some funding with. Food. City has supported for gosh, I don't know how many years, but they support the Missoula Children's Theater, which is a program that we will then go ahead and pay with their funding to host a Missoula Children's Theater. It's a week-long program for them to come in and kind of start learning a script and then the group teaches them how to conduct themselves on stage and at the end of the week we have a culminating performance that they'll put on.
Speaker 3:This year I think we're doing the Wizard of Oz with them. This year in July we're going to be doing the Wizard of Oz. We also do a summer creatives program where we invite the kids to come in free of charge to them, the parents can drop them off and all day long we'll be doing different instructions on the art. So it'll be either stage design, costume design, history of acting and things like that. We try to provide some free education and fun times to maybe encourage the kids to pursue an arts focus as well, just to help round out their experiences.
Speaker 2:Awesome and I'm sure that the community and the schools love it. I can imagine the kids go crazy.
Speaker 3:I mean, I don't want to say they go crazy, but they definitely enjoy it and they always have a fun time and the teachers are always amazed with what the kids learn when they're coming in here. So we definitely appreciate the feedback and we also love to see the smiles on the kids' faces when they're walking through. Awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, Bob, thanks again for your time today and for telling us all about what you guys do in the community. Thank you for what you do. That's incredible that you contribute to the community, not only in the arts and providing supportive tourism, but also to support the kids and the arts in the area. All right, we'll catch you in the next episode. All right, look forward to it.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to On Stage with the Lincoln Theater. Want more of Mary and Virginia's entertainment scene? Visit us online at thelincolnorg yes, that's thelincolnorg or drop by our theater at 117 East Main Street. Let's keep the arts alive and kicking together.