History

Phase 1 Project. The Lucas Area Community Theater, Inc. (LACT) currently consists of a group of eleven people who have renovated the old ISIS Theatre in Lucas Kansas. The theater building had sat vacant for eighteen years until March of 1999 when LACT began renovation. Within eighteen months, LACT and several area volunteers had gutted and remodeled the exterior and interior of the Theater building with over 4,000 hours of volunteer labor. The City of Lucas invested $40,000 for materials to renovate the dilapidated building sitting on Main Street to a beautiful state-of-the-art facility. Musical and theatrical performances, cinema productions and educational arts are a few of the multipurpose uses of the theater. Completion of the Phase 1 Project was November of 2000.

Phase 2 Project. In October of 2005, the Lucas Area Community Theater, Inc. began work on the Dressing Room/Community Room Addition project through the Kansas Department of Commerce KAN STEP grant. The addition consists of a basement with storage, dressing rooms, bathrooms, utility room, and dance class studio. The Cinema screen and moveable wall that separates the community room from the auditorium may be moved back out of the way into a storage room to open the community room to the auditorium. The community room and stage can hold 100 people. The community room can hold 50 people. It took over 5,000 volunteer hours to complete the Phase 2 Project in May of 2007.

Phase 3 Project. In May of 2009, the Lucas Area Community Theater, Inc. decided to start fundraising to replace the old 35mm film projector with a Digital Light Processor with 3-D capability. The goal was set for $86,000 with the 2009 11th Annual Alumni Hog Roast on May 28, 2009 kicking off the fundraiser. Newsletters, newspaper articles and ads, and fundraiser letters were sent out to alumni, area businesses, and past patrons throughout the remainder of 2009 and the first of 2010. On June 8, 2010, the last $9,000 were raised with the City of Lucas committing to make up the balance of what would be needed to get the equipment on order before the end of June 2010. The Lucas Area Community Theater, Inc. appreciates the support of the local and area businesses, alumni, local organizations, and individual patrons who have donated to the Lucas Theater, a community owned theater. Over 4,000 hours of volunteer labor each year is donated to the theater to operate first-run movies each weekend.