Preserve the Lyric Theater for Future Generations
Thanks to everyone who has already purchased a seat!

My Old Friend
by Mary Bishop, Ozark Arts Council Board



I spent a lot of time in the Lyric Theater while growing up. During my high school years, I spent many hours with this old friend at the Lyric, sometimes in the balcony and sometimes downstairs. I never told my Dad about the balcony. I don't think he would have approved. That was the place where you made out...not that I ever did, good preacher's daughter that I was.

But time marches on. In the 45 years that have passed since that time, I have aged and the more I age, the more refurbishing I need to have done...a little color to the hair...a little color to the cheeks...

My old friend needs a little refurbishing also.

In this picture, you can see me with my old friend, a seat from the Lyric Theater. As you can see, the stuffing is coming out, the colors have faded, and the material is becoming thin and tears easily. Not all of our old friends from the Lyric look this bad, but many look worse, and all need to be refurbished.

Plan A for refurbishing this old friend will mean the arms will be sanded and varnished, the metal painted, and the upholstery replaced. It might also mean the floor under the seats painted. Plan A depends partly on being awarded a grant that has been applied for, and partly on the success of our new Adopt-A-Seat program. Plan B, if we do not get the grant, may mean that we can only recover the seats.

For either Plan A or Plan B, the cost to adopt a seat is $100 a chair. On each chair you help refurbish, we will place a small plaque on the arm of the chair, with 2 lines of 20 spaces, along with the row letter and the seat number. You can put anything you want on those two lines......you can buy a seat in memory of parents, children, for yourself, for a neighbor, your cat, your dog, your pot bellied pig, we don't care.

Bear in mind, this is not a reserved seat...you will not be able to come to a performance at the Lyric and find this seat reserved for you. However, your name will always be on the seat, and it will show your interest in helping the Lyric become the best that it can.

I want to encourage you to Adopt-A-Seat. In fact, buy a whole row! Wouldn't that look great to see a whole row with all of your individual family members named on each seat!!! A very lasting contribution to the Lyric.

Download the Adopt-A-Seat form now!



Thank you to those individuals who have already Adopted A Seat Charles & Linda Beaver
Al & Jackie Buxton
Reece & Christy Conrad
Harrison Board of Realtors
Bill Kneip
Mildred Krisik
Jay & Marcille Lawrence
Pollyanna Leimberg
Mary H. Martin
Pat & Ann Moles
Glenna Ragan
Mary & Chuck Speice
Terry Stambaugh
Katie & Julianna Stefanski
Jamie Taylor
Theatre Company
Dr. Charles Walker