Since its corporate sponsor, Sovereign Bank, was rebranded as Santander Bank a few years ago, the Sovereign Majestic Theater in Pottsville has considered changing its own name.
Recently, the board of directors for the theater at 209 N. Centre St. settled on a new one.
"It will simply be 'Majestic Theater.' We're going back to our roots. We're going back to our historic name," Amy S. Burkhart, executive director for the Pottsville Area Development Corp., which manages the theater, said Tuesday.
The theater has recently moved its website to www.majestictheater.net, Burkhart said.
Meanwhile, the theater's board of directors has hired Bartush Signs, Orwigsburg, to remove the letters on the theater's facade that spelled out its former name and put up new letters that will read "Majestic Theater." The work will be complete next week at a cost of "roughly $1,600," Burkhart said.
The 224-seat theater at 209 N. Centre St. is managed by PADCO. It is an eclectic style, two-and-a-half-story building with a Beaux Arts-classical facade. William Howard Lee, a Shamokin native, designed and supervised the construction of the Majestic Theater in 1910, Burkhart said previously.
Opening on July 9, 1910, the Majestic Theater was the destination for fans of westerns and serials for 20 years. It closed in 1930.
The Baker family, Bloomsburg, reopened the building as a farmers market in 1939. Despite ownership changes over the next three decades, the farmers market served as the primary use of the building until it closed in August 1995, Burkhart said previously.
In 1998, the Majestic Theater Association was assembled to spur revitalization of the theater into a state-of-the-art, all-purpose facility for the performing arts.
In January 2001, PADCO, the primary community and economic development agency for the City of Pottsville, and the association purchased the building for $80,000, Burkhart said. In 2002, the decision was made to rename the theater the 'Sovereign Majestic' after its corporate sponsor, and the theater reopened in 2006.
Since then, the nonprofit community theater has run on a yearly budget of "between $60,000 and $65,000," Burkhart said previously.
Burkhart said the theater hosts "about 50 events" per year, from screenings of films to concerts and plays. What helps the theater survive are volunteers, memberships and fundraisers.
In October 2008, Sovereign Bancorp sold its remaining stake in itself to Spanish bank Banco Santander SA, according to www.pennlive.com. In October 2013, the sign atop the Sovereign Bank building, Pottsville, was removed as its name was changed to Santander Bank N.A.
"As Sovereign was rebranding to Santander, the theater decided to use the opportunity to go back to our roots and establish the original and historic name of the theater," Burkhart said.
In other matters, the theater is planning to put an additional door onto its ticket booth and the Pottsville Recreation Commission is covering the cost, which is expected to be about $500, Mary Quirk, the commission's director, said Tuesday.
"The Majestic runs the free movie nights every month, called M&T Movies at the Majestic, and we decided we wanted to give something back," Quirk said.
Stephen R. Buzalko, owner of Buzalko Properties and Buzalko Woodworking, Pottsville, will be doing the work.