Mon Valley Alliance opens doors to deteriorating Coyle Theater in Charleroi
Strings of lights powered by a portable generator illuminate the interior of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi. Utilities for the building were shut off.
Rubble covers the floor where the ceiling has fallen in a side exit hallway of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi.
Alan Veliky of Monongahela inspects what remains of a movie projector in the back of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi. Veliky, the former manager of the Hilltop Drive-In, assisted the projectionists when the theater was in operation.
Christopher Whitlatch, CEO of Mon Valley Alliance, met with members of the media to inspect the interior of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi. Reporters were encouraged to wear boots and masks during the tour.
Water fills the basement level of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi. The building’s roof has been leaking for several years, causing extensive water damage.
CHARLEROI – The last known person to have worked in the Coyle Theater’s projection room visited his former workplace Thursday for the first time in at least four decades, witnessing the state of disrepair of a Mon Valley landmark.
Alan Veliky examined the two movie projectors he occasionally operated high above the stage in the 1970s and recalled the hours of preparation it took to ready movie reels for screenings and why both projectors were needed in order to show a feature-length film.
“It was state of the art at the time,” said Veliky, who stopped by after the new owners of the property opened the theater’s doors to journalists to let the community know what a leaking roof over many years has done to the former burlesque house dating to the 1890s.
“This is a shame. I can’t believe it,” Veliky said.
The 1,000-seat theater closed following a showing of the movie “Titanic” in 1999, and a nonprofit organization, the Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust, later took ownership of the building at 331 McKean Ave. and two adjoining structures.
The trust was never able to raise enough money to restore the properties, and it opted in December 2015 to sell the buildings for $19,500 to the Middle Monongahela Valley Industrial Development Association, a group that is now using the name Mon Valley Alliance. The sale prompted Charleroi Area Historical Society and two of its members, Nikki Sheppick and Kenneth Thompson, to file a suit in Washington County Court claiming the sale violated the terms of the trust’s charter. The lawsuit was dismissed in December, and the plaintiffs have since appealed the ruling to Commonwealth Court.
Christopher Whitlatch, chief executive officer of the alliance, said the organization doesn’t have the money to restore or demolish the theater, and that it can’t spend any money to repair the roof as long as the lawsuit is under appeal.
There are now dead birds in the projection room, and there’s 1 1/2 feet of water in the theater’s basement. The roof is sagging, Whitlatch said, and water is eating a hole in the balcony floor and rotting the small stage. The asbestos soundproofing around the proscenium is falling to the floor, as are chunks of plaster and peeling paint.
“It’s too little, too late,” said Charleroi Councilwoman Debbie Kruell-Buck at the theater’s entrance while Veliky was upstairs re-examining the projectors.
He said it took three hours to put black marks on the films marking the time when the projectionist had 30 seconds to turn on the second projector to continue showing a movie. If done correctly, that work went unnoticed by the audience.
“Some movies had three or four reels,” Veliky said.
The alliance is planning to hire a structural engineer to inspect the buildings to determine if they are salvageable, Whitlatch said.
It also is seeking input from the public on what the community wants to see happen to the properties, he said.