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“I have the most scenic office in town,” says Patrick Myers, the 35-year-old executive director of the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, as he looks out his window at the Piscataquis River. The high spring waters swirl around the columns that hold up Myers’ side of the building, sounding a bit like laughter.
The Center Theatre was built in 1941 after the New Star Theatre across the street burned down. It opened a few weeks too late to show Gone with the Wind, which had been planned as the first feature. For many years it thrived. But the combination of underemployment and distant multiplexes doomed many small-town single-screen movie houses, and in 1972—the year Patrick Myers was born—Center Theatre closed its doors. Many were sad to see the old theater close, but no one could do anything about it.
That began to change in the late 1990s, when a group of local residents raised the funds to purchase the building. A $1.5 million campaign was begun to renovate and rewire the building, install new plumbing and heating, build a new stage and dressing rooms. Today the 300-seat theater is the centerpiece of Dover-Foxcroft’s downtown revival, and the kid who was born the year the theater died is now its chief lifeline.
“I grew up in Maine, went to school in Maine, and like a lot of other kids, all I wanted to do was get out,” says Myers, a 1990 graduate of Foxcroft Academy. After earning an English degree from the University of Maine, he spent several years in different parts of the U.S., working for the National Park Service in Arizona and Utah, the United Way in Buffalo, and a ski resort in Colorado. But he and his wife, Teresa, maintained their Maine connections.
“She was pursuing her own work in art conservation, and I started following her around the country,” Myers says. “And that’s when I got interested in nonprofits.”
Patrick and Teresa Myers returned to Maine for good four years ago, and he soon began volunteering to help restore the theater. “When I was growing up, there was an arcade in the front of the building,” he says. “I remember coming in and playing Battle Zone right inside the front door there. But the theater itself was dank and dark and a bit scary.”
Fast-forward to 2006. After years of fundraising and hard work, the theater restoration was nearly complete. The board was ready to open the facility for local performances, and to hire an executive director. A statewide job search led them right back to Dover-Foxcroft. “They wanted to get the best person for the job, and I was hoping it would be me,” Myers says.
Patrick Myers not only brings organizational and people skills to his position; he also brings a longtime love for the stage. “When I was in high school I did a lot of theater,” he says. “Anything on stage, I was involved in some capacity. I was also involved in some productions during my time at Orono.” These days, beyond booking films and entertainment at the Center Theatre, he’s taken to collecting memorabilia from the theater’s first incarnation, including a 1945 program announcing showings of Flame of the Barbary Coast, starring John Wayne, and The Body Snatchers, featuring Bela Lugosi.
The new and improved Center Theatre opened full-time in 2007 with a mixed schedule of plays, music performances, band competitions, youth events, and movies. The first film? Gone with the Wind.
Since then, the Center Theatre has lived up to its name. Most weekends, it’s hopping. “It’s great to see 300 people downtown on a Saturday night,” Myers says. “I never thought I’d be evangelical about where I live. If someone had told me when I was in high school that in 15 years I would move back to Dover-Foxcroft and have the best job in the world and be ridiculously happy about being here, I would have laughed.”
He’s laughing now, right along with the river.
The Center Theatre was built in 1941 after the New Star Theatre across the street burned down. It opened a few weeks too late to show Gone with the Wind, which had been planned as the first feature. For many years it thrived. But the combination of underemployment and distant multiplexes doomed many small-town single-screen movie houses, and in 1972—the year Patrick Myers was born—Center Theatre closed its doors. Many were sad to see the old theater close, but no one could do anything about it.
That began to change in the late 1990s, when a group of local residents raised the funds to purchase the building. A $1.5 million campaign was begun to renovate and rewire the building, install new plumbing and heating, build a new stage and dressing rooms. Today the 300-seat theater is the centerpiece of Dover-Foxcroft’s downtown revival, and the kid who was born the year the theater died is now its chief lifeline.
“I grew up in Maine, went to school in Maine, and like a lot of other kids, all I wanted to do was get out,” says Myers, a 1990 graduate of Foxcroft Academy. After earning an English degree from the University of Maine, he spent several years in different parts of the U.S., working for the National Park Service in Arizona and Utah, the United Way in Buffalo, and a ski resort in Colorado. But he and his wife, Teresa, maintained their Maine connections.
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“She was pursuing her own work in art conservation, and I started following her around the country,” Myers says. “And that’s when I got interested in nonprofits.”
Patrick and Teresa Myers returned to Maine for good four years ago, and he soon began volunteering to help restore the theater. “When I was growing up, there was an arcade in the front of the building,” he says. “I remember coming in and playing Battle Zone right inside the front door there. But the theater itself was dank and dark and a bit scary.”
Fast-forward to 2006. After years of fundraising and hard work, the theater restoration was nearly complete. The board was ready to open the facility for local performances, and to hire an executive director. A statewide job search led them right back to Dover-Foxcroft. “They wanted to get the best person for the job, and I was hoping it would be me,” Myers says.
Patrick Myers not only brings organizational and people skills to his position; he also brings a longtime love for the stage. “When I was in high school I did a lot of theater,” he says. “Anything on stage, I was involved in some capacity. I was also involved in some productions during my time at Orono.” These days, beyond booking films and entertainment at the Center Theatre, he’s taken to collecting memorabilia from the theater’s first incarnation, including a 1945 program announcing showings of Flame of the Barbary Coast, starring John Wayne, and The Body Snatchers, featuring Bela Lugosi.
The new and improved Center Theatre opened full-time in 2007 with a mixed schedule of plays, music performances, band competitions, youth events, and movies. The first film? Gone with the Wind.
Since then, the Center Theatre has lived up to its name. Most weekends, it’s hopping. “It’s great to see 300 people downtown on a Saturday night,” Myers says. “I never thought I’d be evangelical about where I live. If someone had told me when I was in high school that in 15 years I would move back to Dover-Foxcroft and have the best job in the world and be ridiculously happy about being here, I would have laughed.”
He’s laughing now, right along with the river.
