Irwin's Lamp Theatre hosts free summer music, movies nights

Aug 13, 2023

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Free entertainment will be offered throughout the summer at The Lamp Theatre in Irwin, with three local music nights and three family movie nights on tap.

The outdoor music series starts Thursday in the Harper Family Courtyard, featuring Nick Guckert from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and Barbara Blue from 7:45 to 9 p.m.

Doors will open at 5:30 at the theater at 222 Main St.

The first free movie, the G-rated "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey," is scheduled for showings at 6 and 8 p.m. Friday.

"I wanted to have something for kids and families at The Lamp," said theater manager Bill Elder. "I really just want to do as much give-back to the community as I can."

Music nights will continue on July 13 with Adam Fitz and Jay Wiley and Aug. 10 with Caryn Dixon, followed by Byron Nash and Jacquea May.

The other featured movies will be "Labyrinth" on July 7 and "Hook" on July 22. Both will screen twice and both are rated PG.

The concession stand will be open during all music and movie nights.

The Lamp is able to offer the free programming through sponsorship support, Elder noted.

"We’re starting small, just once a month, and checking the response," he said. "As long as the response is good and we have the sponsorship, we’ll keep going."

The Lamp courtyard opened in August 2018.

"We basically had 1½ summers with it before the pandemic," Elder said. "We really never got into much programming at that point in time, but it's been an initiative since 2021 to get programming into the courtyard."

Since the theater generally books weekend shows, having local music Thursdays increases its availability to a wider portion of the community, he said.

The Lamp's regular lineup of tribute bands "are not always for families. And this is affordable, being free," Elder said.

"I said if we’re going to utilize the courtyard, I want that to be more local," he said. "The Lamp doesn't do a ton of local entertainment. A lot of local people do want to play at The Lamp, but unfortunately it doesn't work out money-wise for them to come in.

This way, they can use The Lamp and get them some exposure in Westmoreland County."

Elder called the movie nights are "a fill-in" for summer kids’ week programming that the theater offered prior to the pandemic.

"Kid's week will be back next year," Elder said. "The last time we did it was 2019. We did themed days – a movie, science, puppets, health — and a showcase for the parents on the last day to see what kids learned during the week."

The week offered children a way to sample different activities without families having to pay for expensive lessons.

"The idea is to get them involved and see if they enjoy it. And if they enjoy it, we’ll help you out by finding a lesson or teacher your kids can go to," Elder said.

More information on music and movie nights is available at 724-367-4000 or lamptheatre.org.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

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