McKees Rocks’ Roxian Theatre gets a second life

Ifirst set foot in the Roxian Theatre in 2012 to take a “before” tour with Taris Vrcek, executive director of the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp. This was the theater of his childhood in the Rocks.

Built in 1928 as a vaudeville theater, it played several roles through its century. It was a movie theater for years before it became a banquet hall. It once had a nightclub in the basement, and duckpin

bowling. The projector room was a time capsule, with a calendar turned to December 1979.

The MRCDC bought the property, at 425 Chartiers Ave., in 2011. The original plan for its reuse was drawn up in 2001- 03 by the late Jack Johnston. He was a socially conscious developer with a great imagination, and he fancied this quote: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

He died in 2018 from heart failure. It was his vision that turned the key in this cumbersome vehicle.

“Seems like two lifetimes ago,” Mr. Vrcek said.

The plan was to restore the Roxian to function as a live- music venue. On my first walk- through, it was grungy, musty and scuffed up. It smelled of water damage from a basement flood in 2005.

“This is something McKees Rocks needs,” Mr. Vrcek told me then. “This is a catalyst project.”

If there was any building in McKees Rocks that called for attention, it was the Roxian. Old theaters have entertainment in their bones. They were designed for the spotlight.

When they go dark in small towns, they embody small- town loss.

There’s a theater like the Roxian in my own childhood — the Robinson Grand Theater in Clarksburg, W. Va. Like the Roxian, it has an “after.” Today, the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center is breathing new life into Clarksburg.

One day recently, I toured the “after” version of the Roxian with Mr. Vrcek and Jennifer Szczesniak, an architect with Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel. This project was her baby, starting in 2015.

Seeing the Roxian is worth the price of going to a show. The blade sign approximates the original, with Deco lettering in yellow and blue. Stucco on the facade was removed to reveal terracotta reliefs and bands. The cool, clean palette inside is light gray.

Everything that’s original is beautiful again — decorative bands on the proscenium wall, original plaster grills on the ceiling above the stage and grill work along the side walls in front. The lights are set inside large plaster ceiling discs, rosettes made from a mold to match the old ones.

The original proportions were perfect for sound — a shallow front of house and a balcony in which the furthest seat feels surprisingly close to the performer. It has 32,000 square feet. The theater holds 1,470 people at legal capacity.

Since it opened in April, the Roxian has brought bands including Toots and the Maytals, the Snarky Puppies and Bruce Hornsby, with Common and Bad Religion on the upcoming schedule. Visit roxianlive. com for schedule information.

John Pergal, owner of the Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville, bought the Roxian with partners. They invested $ 2 million. Hollowood Music of McKees Rocks created the sound system.

“This project cost $ 9 million from day one, in 2004,” with the first grants for exploratory work, Mr. Vrcek said. “We drastically underestimated the scope of the complexity.”

Underestimating is a good thing. Otherwise, all the great stuff might not be started.

“We spent days crawling through this building doing laser measures,” Ms. Szczesniak said. “There were no existing drawings. If a column wasn’t revealed above where it was below, we had to figure out where it was. An elevator tower was planned where there was a massive beam.

“We would measure, draw and figure out where to remeasure. It was like piecing a puzzle together.”

A large girder truss supports the balcony, which has new seating and handrails, but concertgoers climbing to balcony seats are using the original wood steps.

“We wanted to keep the spirit of the existing theater but with new pieces that gave it some rock ‘ n’ roll,” Ms. Szczesniak said.

“Jennifer stood firm for the integrity of the building,” Mr. Vrcek said.

“We had to give on some things,” she said.

“Things you can’t see,” he added. “That’s the beauty of it. I am so proud taking people on a tour of this place.”