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Release list posted for Black Friday Record Store Day 2015

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Bruce Phair has spent most of his adult life at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts.</p><p>Bruce graduated from Wilkes (College) in 1973, spending most of his four-year college stint performing and helping at the Darte Center. After graduation, he got a job, but returned to Wilkes and the Darte Center in 1980.</p><p>After 36 years working at the center, most of that time as the facility&#8217;s manager, Bruce will retire in January.</p><p>Retirement was a difficult decision for the Nutley, NJ native now residing in West Nanticoke, but now that the 50th anniversary of the Darte Center has been celebrated, he feels he can leave. He told me he stayed to help with the 50th anniversary celebration because he felt he owed that, and much more, to the late Al Groh, founder of the Wilkes theater arts program.</p><p>The Darte Center opened in 1965 and has served as the home of Wilkes&#8217; performing arts program. At Saturday night&#8217;s gala, pictures, programs, letters, news clippings and more were posted in the theater&#8217;s lobby. A walk past the display was a walk down memory lane with memorabilia revealing the rich tradition of the center and a tribute to all who performed, worked or volunteered there.</p><p>Many Wilkes students have gone on to pursue careers in the performing arts and Bruce sees every one of them as special students. He knew Robert Hegyes, who played student Juan Epstein in TV&#8217;s &#8220;Welcome Back Kotter&#8221; and was a student for one year at Wilkes back in 1969. Bruce gets excited when he meets another incoming class of first-year students, eager to learn their trade.</p><p>Dorothy Dickson Darte never wanted her name attached to the center &#8212; she insisted her generous donation remain anonymous and Wilkes&#8217; first president Eugene Farley often referred to Darte as an &#8220;anonymous donor&#8221; even when she was in the audience. Dickson Darte passed away on July 2, 1969, just before the building&#8217;s dedication on April 10, 1970. After Darte&#8217;s death, Katherine Darling gave Wilkes permission to use her mother&#8217;s name for the newly-constructed center.</p><p>In the dedication program of the building, which was built for just under $1 million, Farley described Darte&#8217;s devotion by noting, &#8220;Dorothy modestly and quietly did so much for Wilkes College, its students and the greater community.&#8221;</p><p>Bruce took us on a tour of the building, showing us the Blackbox Theatre in the basement used for a practice room that seats 60 people.</p><p>The main auditorium, the Darling Theatre, is located on the first floor of the center and can seat 478 people. Its stage contains three trap doors and a hydraulic orchestra section which can be set in three positions. The lowest level is also used as a freight elevator to lift props to the stage, while the highest level lines up with the stage to provide extra room. This theatre also has 36 line sets and 300 stage lighting instruments.</p><p>&#8220;When this center opened in 1965, it was as fine as any performing arts venue that you would find on any campus of any academic institution,&#8221; Bruce said. &#8220;And it still ranks right up there today.&#8221;</p><p>The area where the scenery is constructed is adjacent to the stage &#8212; a rare convenience for performing arts centers.</p><p>The center was designed by Donald Oenslager, a Tony Award-winning scenic designer who was assisted by the architectural firm Lacy &amp; Atherton. The building was constructed by Sordoni Construction Co.</p><p>Bruce gave the welcoming address at Saturday&#8217;s gala. He said it would be &#8220;an evening of celebration to recollect, reminisce and remember.&#8221;</p><p>He talked of Farley and Dickson Darte and Groh and all who left their mark on the building and the community.</p><p>Wilkes President Patrick Leahy said Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green spoke at the 1965 dedication ceremony of the center, telling the gathered crowd the importance of &#8220;trying to go somewhere or do something that counts.&#8221;</p><p>Leahy said, &#8220;Celebrate not the building; celebrate what happens in this building.&#8221;</p><p>State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, a Wilkes graduate and a former music teacher, was on hand to offer remarks. He said he could hardly stay in his seat when the Wilkes University Chorus broke into &#8220;Shout&#8221; &#8212; a song Pashinski has performed for decades with his band The Starfires.</p><p>The gala was a true celebration of a woman and the building she made possible. And it was a celebration of all the students and events that have graced the stage of the center and who have gone on to perform in all walks of life.</p><p>Bruce Phair has been there for most of it &#8212; 40 of the 50 years. He has been the constant and has made the Wilkes University Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the performing Arts &#8220;shout&#8221; each and every day.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_OBoyle_Columnshot-1-18.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_phair1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bruce Phair, manager at the Wilkes University Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, talked about preparations for the 50th Anniversary gala, held Oct. 24. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_phair1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Bruce Phair, manager at the Wilkes University Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, talked about preparations for the 50th Anniversary gala, held Oct. 24. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Bruce Phair will retire in January, having captained the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts for 36 of its 50 years