This reporter recently met with Front Royal Performing Arts Center (FRPAC) Board of Directors President Shae Parker and Vice-President Kate Gorecki to get an overview, including photos seen below, of the renovation status of the planned, multi-faceted Performing Arts Center on the 100 block of East Main Street at its intersection with Church Street. With construction ongoing, no firm date has been set for FRPAC’s opening other than sometime between the Spring and Fall of 2027.
“FRPAC plans to provide entertainment, cultural enrichment, and educational opportunities to the community through a wide variety of performing arts,” Parker said with a nod to FRPAC Board Vice-President Kate Gorecki regarding the overall community enrichment the board is seeking. We were impressed to hear that Gorecki brings over 20 years of experience working with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to her role here.
Of that role’s dynamics locally, Gorecki said, “We plan to have a variety of genres at the PAC. All types of music from classical and chamber to bluegrass, folk, jazz, blues, vocal and choral, recitals, contemporary, pop/rock, plays, musical, and theater for young audiences; different kinds of dance; comedy; silent and art films; and community-related presentations.
Kate Gorecki points to historic, preserved catwalk, and future balcony area as board member Donny Walton looks on. Below, graphic of production by WCHS class of 1925 at Murphy Theater. Royal Examiner Photos: Roger Bianchini, except for FRPAC courtesy photos and graphics
“A very important endeavor of the PAC is going to be arts education. We plan to do school concerts for Warren County, bring artists into the schools for performances, workshops for students and for teachers, and hope to start educational programs during the summer among other things,” PAC Vice President Gorecki said with both eyes focused on the future.
“Ultimately we have a responsibility to use our experiences in the arts, to take what we know and have learned, who we have worked with, whatever has been handed down to us; and then continue to nurture, grow, encourage, and advocate for the arts, be good custodians and pass it along to future generations. It’s an artistic way of paying it forward.”
Shot of the front of the involved building which stretches far back along Church St. Below, trio of FRPAC board members, Shae Parker, Donny Walton, and Kate Gorecki, at distance from back wall of stage area
Our questions about the transformation of the historic building, dating to the late 1800s when it served the community first as a church and later as the Murphy Theater, included how the local Performing Arts Center will integrate with existing Historic Downtown Front Royal businesses, particularly those involved in the arts.
Downtown Partner, not competitor
“We really want to be an extension of downtown, and the community as a whole. We aren’t looking to compete with the local live music scene, art community or other entertainment downtown and elsewhere but rather be complementary,” Parker said, adding of that envisioned future, “Grab dinner at a nearby restaurant, then catch a show with us and afterward a nightcap and enjoy the local music scene.”
Of FRPAC Board personnel, Parker added, “We have a very talented Board; we have Directors with all aspects of experience in theatre, entertainment, talent buying, management, business, education, non-profits, but none of us have built a non-profit Performing Arts Center from the ground up. A lot of research and hard work has gotten us this far, and we’ll need even more. We are essentially developing multiple business plans simultaneously during the construction phase, ranging from educational workshops to concessions, theater programming to facility management.”
A trio of PAC directors hamming it up on stage. Below, the building’s towering staging area looking northwest from a blocked-off Church St., and another view of the narrow walkway to the PAC entrance along Church St.
Parker also noted VERY positive feedback from existing non-profit entities throughout the South and mid-East. “As the Board researched similar non-profit theaters, and during conversations with them, it was repeatedly pointed out that we are in a prime geographic location. We are conveniently located an hour-plus outside the D.C. metro area, and we are similarly situated relative to other venues and metro areas, including Charlottesville, Hagerstown, Waynesboro, et al.
“And it was also repeatedly noted that we are midway between Nashville and New York City, which puts us in the middle of most entertainment tours,” Parker observed with a nod to those existing non-profit theaters: “Other non-profit theaters have been more than gracious in sharing information, contacts and offering advice and recommendations.”
Of the FRPAC Board of Directors and its ongoing work, Parker observed that, “While construction and renovation of the Performing Arts Center continues, the Board of Directors is working to identify and secure funding sources, grant opportunities, ticketing agencies, licensing, talent agencies, partners, sponsors, volunteers and so on. We have a lot of behind-the-scenes work to do before that curtain goes up for that first show next year.”
And with all that background experience with the arts and group effort to create a community-wide artistic and educational non-profit initiative, are you as anxious as this reporter for that yet unknown opening date and seasonal events schedule to be posted?!!? Stay tuned for more updates on progress, hopefully to bring those dates sooner rather than later in 2027.
