Over 200 supporters gathered Saturday at the 3rd annual Rivoli Revue in the Cook Theater at the Indiana Landmarks Center. They were there to support a nonprofit organization called the Rivoli Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. The group hopes to rehabilitate the historic Rivoli Theatre, located at 3155 E. 10th Street on Indianapolis’ near Eastside, and turn it into a performing arts center. The former movie house was built in 1927 by Universal Studios, but has been vacant since 1992 and has become seriously dilapidated.
The event, which raised over $4,000 for the cause, was chaired by volunteer Retta Kuechler, who says, “I feel it went very well. We're still new to this type of event, but with each one I believe we are fine tuning the process and improving our end results. Attendees approached me throughout the evening commenting on how much they were enjoying themselves and how top notch the talent was. They also shared information about people and organizations that could help us further our efforts.”
The event, during which hors d’oeuvres were served, featured a cash bar, silent auction and an entertainment program that was preceded by radio veteran Paul Irwin, who played music from 1927, the year the Rivoli was built.
The revue itself was emceed by this writer, representing Examiner.com. It featured five musical groups and included brief comments from Rivoli Center for the Performing Arts Board President James Kelley; Marsh Davis, president and CEO of Indiana Landmarks; Dave Smith, another veteran broadcaster and former host of “When Movies Were Movies”; and Sarah Evans, project manager, E. 10th Street Civic Association.
Also participating in the event was artist/designer Doug Arnholter, who created a piece of art during the entertainment portion that was later made available in the silent auction.
The entertainers included the singing/guitar playing duo of Zena Sellars, 16, and Grace Danford, 15, representing Creative Tweenz & Teens; singer/songwriter Zac Hayes, 18, on keyboard and guitar with drummer Taylor Colwell; keyboard musicians Reginald Walters and Khari Taylor-Jordan from the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis, Praise Choir; Jacob Bates (vocals) and Andrew Butcher (guitar/vocals), who call themselves South Six 5; and The Steve Smith Band.
For more information about the Rivoli Performing Arts Center, visit www.rivolitheatre.org.
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