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Bischwind VillaA Lake-Side Mansion in Bear Creek, PA

Historic F.M. Kirby Theater


The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts is an art deco jewel in downtown Wilkes-Barre and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. Steeped in a rich history as a movie theater, it was built in 1938 as the Comerford Movie Theater. In 1949, the building was renamed the Paramount Theater.

Since opening its doors in 1986 as a performing arts theater, the Kirby Center’s cumulative audience is nearing three million people of all ages, striving to bring quality entertainment and arts education to the area. The Kirby Center represents true community theater with high-quality, affordable, and diverse programs that touch all segments of our community. It presents the very best of Broadway, comedy, music, dance, family fun, and arts and education programs. In recent years, it has hosted John Legend, Ringo Starr, Jerry Seinfeld, Heart, Norah Jones, Jennifer Nettles, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Donny and Marie Osmand, and many more.

In 2018, the F.M. Kirby Center was ranked by Pollstar, a major live events trade publication, at #93 on their Top 200 list of theaters worldwide, and at #5 on their Top Pennsylvania Theaters list.



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