Friends of the Old Town Theatre

The Friends of Old Town Theatre project was first organized in 1997 as a community non-profit, dedicated to the restoration and reopening of Huntsville's Old Town Theatre on the downtown square. The building had served in its earliest years as a downtown movie theater. When the organization acquired the building, it was in severe disrepair, and the long and grueling process of rebuilding began. Friends President Gene Myrick and his board members worked tirelessly with the help of a small band of friends and supporters to gather community donations and grant funding and then construction began. The theater received a generous donation in 2001, one year after opening, from the late LuEllen Gibbs, an early supporter and friend to the project, and the title of J. Philip Gibbs, Jr., Centre for the Performing Arts was added to its name.