Town Theatre celebrates re-opening
February 11, 2025
Town Theatre is now back open! The Columbia Town Theatre celebrated its reopening as they just wrapped up the final phase of a renovation campaign that began in 2018 but was halted by COVID until this previous fall.
Still standing tall on Sumter Street, the Town Theatre is a Columbia local treasure as it’s served as a hub for all live theatrical performances for the community for many years. Founded in 1919, the theatre remains true to its significant attribute as the oldest community theatre in continuous use in the United States and is in the middle of its 105th season. The current building, built in 1924 on the 1012 Sumter Street property, recently celebrated its 100th birthday which also was the “kick-off” for the most recent round of renovations.
Over the past four weeks, project partners, Lambert Architects, Town Theatre, and Hood Construction have conducted renovations to the theatre to finish up the third and final phase of their Centennial Campaign. The renovations included replacing seating, aisle lighting, flooring, repairing paint, wallpaper, and adding several finish upgrades. As part of the campaign, all modifications to the historic building were intended to preserve the theatre’s charming features and to improve the overall experience for its spectators.
Hood Construction’s Senior Project Manager, Thomas Scruggs, worked alongside his wife, Town Theatre’s Executive Director, Shannon Willis Scruggs, on this project. “It’s not often you have the opportunity to work alongside your husband with this amount of support and resources. I think we made a great team, and I can’t wait for the community to see our upgrades,” said Shannon Willis Scruggs.
Town Theatre celebrated its reopening last Friday, February 7th with a ribbon cutting ceremony. At the ceremony, members from the Columbia community joined together to celebrate the theatre, followed by the opening night performance of Steel Magnolias.
About Town Theatre
Town Theatre was founded in 1919 as a family-oriented community theatre. Town Theatre provides an exceptional opportunity for anyone interested in theatre the chance to perform on stage. Many of Town Theatre’s current and alumni performers have appeared on Broadway, network television and in major feature films. They include Cats, A Chorus Line, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 11th, 2025 HOOD CONSTRUCTION Ruthless People, Hill Street Blues, and North and South. For more information, visit www.towntheatre.com
About Hood Construction
Hood Construction Company was founded in 1986 as a full-service Construction Management firm, currently licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Now in its 39th year, Hood specializes in CM-R and Design-Assist Delivery, Pre-construction Consulting, Site Analysis, Project Management and General Contracting for a broad spectrum of commercial and industrial clients. For more information, please visit us online at www.hoodconstruction.com
About Lambert Architects
Scott Lambert, AIA and Rich Spicer founded Lambert Architecture + Construction Services in 2012. Lambert Architecture + Construction Services capitalizes on a strong knowledge of quality design, construction cost analysis, and construction process. For more information, visit www.lambertarchcs.com
