Patrick Alicarlo and Jason Cutts
in True West
and Helene Pierson of The Heart
of Camden, an organization
whose mission is to rehab neighborhoods.
“I kept saying to her, ‘My grandfather’s bar should be a theater,”
recalled Paprzycki. “When we
opened the first show at the
Church, she laughed and walked
away. I asked her again a few
months later and again at the
opening of the theater. At the
opening she said, ‘The third time
somebody comes to me with an
idea, I start thinking seriously
about it.’”
A new program had been
New Jersey Stage
Allison Kessler and Eli Russell
in Gemini
launched to help pay off federal
debts on properties and allow the
city to acquire buildings like the
bar. Paprzycki’s dream site ended
up being one of the first properties in Camden to be acquired.
Due to the extensive damage of
the building, it was unable to be
renovated, but they were able to
do the next best thing — build an
exact duplicate of the bar and
place a theater inside.
“We’re building you a theater,
what do you want?” Paprzycki
was asked by the city. It was the
question everyone involved in
theater wishes to hear. Thanks to
September 2014
pg 86