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Happy birthday Julie Ann Younker!

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Girl Scouts sing carols at Little Flower Manor

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Friends of the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre gathered in the lobby of the historic North Main Street venue Friday evening for a Christmas Wine and Wishes reception.</p><p>The event kicked off a capital campaign, during which organizers hope to raise $1 million by the theater&#8217;s 100th anniversary in 2022.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the third-oldest theater in the United States. That&#8217;s significant,&#8221; said Wilkes-Barre City Council member Tony Brooks, who showed his support by attending in costume as General Lord Butler, who was a councilman in the early 1800s and also, an ancestor of Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre Community Board member Cornelia Conyngham Romanowski.</p><p>&#8220;How many &#8216;greats&#8217;?&#8221; Romanowski pondered, as she and Brooks came up with the answer &#8220;three.&#8221; The historic Butler was her great-great-great-grandfather.</p><p>History was a theme at the gathering, as well-wishers reflected on the theater&#8217;s many years of existence, the way it can get people talking about new ideas, and the way it can work a kind of &#8220;magic,&#8221; as even shy people &#8220;come alive on the stage.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Hopefully it will be here for a long time,&#8221; said attorney Tom Mosca, of Dallas, who attended with his wife, Andrea.</p><p>The Moscas said they were looking forward to attending Little Theatre&#8217;s production of &#8220;A Christmas Carol&#8221; with their daughter, who would be home on break from law school.</p><p>That show would end its run with final performances on Saturday and Sunday, and Little Theatre&#8217;s development director Walter Mitchell added to the ambience of the Friday evening reception by sporting an old-fashioned white wig &#8212; a la his character, Scrooge&#8217;s one-time employer, Fezziwig.</p><p>The old theater building needs some renovations and improvements, Mitchell has said, and he envisions it serving in the future not only as a theater but as a place for town meetings and a &#8220;reasonably priced, reasonably sized venue for individual artists, for jazz groups and trios, for speakers and open mic nights, for dance recitals, for music teachers that need a place to show what their students have learned.&#8221;</p><p>He is eager to work toward the $1 million goal by raising $200,000 by the end of 2017, which would bring in a matching $200,000 from an angel benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous.</p><p>The dozens of people who showed up on a snowy Friday evening got the project off to a good start by donating $19,253.</p><p>&#8220;That does not include the match,&#8221; Mitchell wrote later, in an email. &#8220;Remember, we have an anonymous donor who has offered $200,000 on a dollar-for-dollar match for all funds raised by Dec. 31, 2017 and all pledges received by year&#8217;s end and satisfied by July 31, 2018.&#8221;</p><p>Supporters like Cynthia Post, who attended Friday&#8217;s reception, agreed the theater is a worthwhile cause.</p><p>&#8220;People from all walks of life come together&#8221; to put on shows and to watch the shows, Post said. &#8220;And they bring children into it. I love that.&#8221;</p><p>Mitchell vowed earlier this year to devote himself to seeking donations. Individuals who are willing to help may send checks made out to Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre with a notation in the memo line that it is for the campaign.</p><p>Checks may be sent to Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, in care of P.O. Box 1, Wilkes-Barre PA 18703.</p><p>That low-as-you-can-go box number is not a mistake; it&#8217;s an indication of how long Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Little Theatre has been part of the community.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s how old we are,&#8221; Mitchell said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got the very first post office box.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Socializing at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Christmas Wine and Wishes fund-raiser are Richard Kramer, who was in the cast of the recent production &#8216;A Christmas Carol;&#8217; Wilkes-Barre City Council member Tony Brooks, dressed as Zebulon Butler&#8217;s son General Lord Butler; Little Theatre Community Board Member Cornelia Conyngham Romanowski; and Little Theatre development director Walter Mitchell. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_walterandfriends-002.jpg</photo0><caption0>Socializing at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Christmas Wine and Wishes fund-raiser are Richard Kramer, who was in the cast of the recent production &#8216;A Christmas Carol;&#8217; Wilkes-Barre City Council member Tony Brooks, dressed as Zebulon Butler&#8217;s son General Lord Butler; Little Theatre Community Board Member Cornelia Conyngham Romanowski; and Little Theatre development director Walter Mitchell. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_walterandfriends-003.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Attorney Tom Mosca and his wife, Andrea, attended the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre fund-raiser on Friday evening and said they were looking forward to attending a performance of &#8216;A Christmas Carol&#8217; before the run ended on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_walterandfriends-003.jpg</photo1><caption1>Attorney Tom Mosca and his wife, Andrea, attended the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre fund-raiser on Friday evening and said they were looking forward to attending a performance of &#8216;A Christmas Carol&#8217; before the run ended on Sunday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_walterandfriends-006.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ed and Cornelia Romanowski, left, and Cynthia Post, right, pose with Little Theatre&#8217;s Walter Mitchell, who added a touch of Dickensian whimsy to the gathering with his white wig. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_walterandfriends-006.jpg</photo2><caption2>Ed and Cornelia Romanowski, left, and Cynthia Post, right, pose with Little Theatre&#8217;s Walter Mitchell, who added a touch of Dickensian whimsy to the gathering with his white wig. </caption2><photoCredit2>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Funds to renovate, improve historic venue</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre kicks off capital campaign with reception