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The Gallery At Towngate Hosts First Friday Events Jan. 6

Railroad Exhibit, Reception, Short Films & Improv Jan. 6

Join us from 5:30-9:30 p.m. January 6 for First Friday events at The Gallery at Towngate!

View the current exhibit on display.  Railroad photographer Frederick J. Ripley is the featured artist. In addition, you can go upstairs to the theater and watch a series of short films by independent filmmakers from across the country.  Film shorts will be playing on a loop. So, you can come and go at your leisure. Afterwards, Towngate’s improv group, the Left of Centre Players, takes the stage.

All events are free and open to the public.

“Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain Railroading: A Photographic Essay by Frederick J. Ripley”

The exhibit features photographs of American railroading, taken between 1988 and 2015.  These dramatic images include scenes from Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.  An exhibit guide describes each photo.

For nearly 30 years, Ripley has created almost 50,000 images of American railroads, taken in 20 states.

Ripley uses his material to create exhibits around a theme and presentations that illustrate a particular section of a railroad.  Supported by historical material such as timetables, maps and schedules, his presentations offer an interesting and educational look at the subject in its historic, economic and geographic context.

Ripley has a keen interest in history, combined with a love of the outdoors and regional geography. His style of photography not only presents scenes of modern railroading in the context of history and tradition but also illustrates the railroad’s evolving interaction with its environment.

Ripley’s exhibit is on display at The Gallery at Towngate through February 28.

First Friday Fun!  Have a Drink on Us!

Enjoy a glass of wine or craft beer. Have some light refreshments, too. The event is free and open to the public.

Whether you are out with the family, on a date or enjoying a night out with friends, stop by Towngate Theatre.  Enjoy the art, film, reception and improv. Meet our staff, too.  Most of all, explore our theater. You’ll discover more about all the arts and entertainment events that take place here year-round.

Improv at Towngate

The Gallery at Towngate

Towngate Theatre is well known in Wheeling and its surrounding communities for community theater productions, children’s theater, concerts, ballet, film screenings, spoken word and other performing arts events.  But did you know that Towngate is also an art gallery?  The theater lobby is now home to changing art exhibits.

The Gallery at Towngate is an extension of the exhibit season hosted by Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Art Center and aims to combine visual arts with performing arts and cinema.

The Gallery at Towngate enhances the growing Centre Market District, and it helps attract more art enthusiasts to events in the area such as First Fridays.

About Towngate

Oglebay Institute purchased the Zion Lutheran Church in Centre Wheeling in 1969. Extensive renovations transformed the historic church into a performing arts center.  The community enjoys hundreds of live performances, films and classes and workshops year-round.

Constructed in 1850, Towngate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Local Theater Legend Presents Poetry Reading

An Evening with Hal O’Leary at Towngate Theatre

In Wheeling the name Hal O’Leary is synonymous with community theater. O’Leary spent a lifetime in the theater as actor, director and designer. He founded Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre and served as its artistic director for 43 years. Since his retirement in 2008, O’Leary has immersed himself in a world of poetry. He has written more than 200 poems and essays, which have been published in 15 countries.

O’Leary will share poems from his recently published book “For What They’re Worth: Poems of Wit and Wisdom” during a poetry reading and reception with the author. The event takes place Saturday, December 17 at Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre.

Drinks will be served at 6:30 p.m. The reading begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception and book signing in the theater’s social room. The event is free and open to the public. Fitzsimmons Law Firm is sponsoring the event.

Hal O'Leary presents poetry reading.

O’Leary’s love of poetry began at an early age. He wrote his first poem at age 16 for a teacher he loved. At age 20, after serving in the Army during World War II, he wrote his own epitaph. He wouldn’t write another poem until age 84.

“After I retired, I began to scribble a bit,” he said. Poetry served as a creative outlet in his “lifelong search for the purpose of human existence.”

“The arts are my religion, my education, my life,” he explained. “I believe it is only through the arts that we are afforded an occasional glimpse into the otherwise incomprehensible.”

Hal O’Leary and Towngate Theatre

O’Leary joined the Oglebay Institute staff in 1965 where he was given the opportunity to develop a theater program. He began by bringing creative dramatics into every elementary school classroom in the area. Hal produced plays in a variety of venues and created the Junior Theater Program for young actors, which became the Parcel Players summer program geared to high school- and college-age students. In 1969, O’Leary oversaw the renovations to a historic church purchased by Oglebay Institute.  He turned it into a 166-seat theater now in its 47th season. During his tenure, Towngate Theatre produced 250 shows with 1,592 performances for a combined attendance of more than 158,000 people.

Hal O'Leary presents poetry reading December 17.

In addition to his role as a leader in community theater in the Upper Ohio Valley, O’Leary has pursued a career on the regional and national level. He has acted in several movies and in industrial promotions and commercial spots for television and performed on stages in Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh.

He has made recordings of anthologies of children’s literature; early in his career, he appeared on programs for CBS and ABC radio. His expertise as a scenic designer has been utilized for numerous Towngate productions as well as ones in Clarksburg, W.Va., New York City and on a cruise ship. He also was an instructor of communications at Bethany College from 1970-79.

In 2008 he was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree from West Liberty University.

RSVP for this special evening.

The event is free, but RSVPs are appreciated.  Call 304-242-7700 or visit www.oionline.com. Towngate Theatre is located in Wheeling’s Centre Market district at 2118 Market Street.