The theatre was built in 1939 as a movie theatre of the Commerford chain and was originally known as the Commerford Theatre. The first film shown at the Theatre opened on May 11, 1939 and was titled “Smart Girls Grow Up”, staring Deanna Durbin. The ticket sales were twenty-five cents for matinees and forty cents for evening showings. The Carlisle Theatre was the first centrally air conditioned theatre in the Commerford chain and the first centrally air conditioned building in downtown Carlisle.

The film theatre operated until the early 1980’s when it was closed and sold to a business group from Baltimore, Maryland. Maintenance and upkeep were neglected for a number of years while efforts were made to sell the building. By the late 1980’s the theatre had become blight in the downtown area, with trash piled up against the doors, a dark marquee, and general deterioration throughout the structure. A tree was growing in the auditorium, birds were flying in and out of the building, and continuing water damage was occurring. In short, it was a dark, gray, and dirty, dingy building in the center of downtown Carlisle.

In 1986 a group of people having coffee at a local restaurant were discussing the problem and dreamed about the possibility of creating a performing arts center and, after more meetings and more cups of coffee, decided to give it a try. The Carlisle Theatre Project was born and decided to do an initial fund raising targeted at individual donors, avoiding corporate and business donors to test the community support for the concept. The campaign was successful and funds were used to initiate a series of fund raising events. The success of the campaign also led to financial support from the Borough Council to conduct a feasibility study which determined that such a project could be successful.

The success of the original campaign and the conclusions of the study resulted in a determination by a group of our citizens to press forward with a major campaign to raise funds to purchase and restore the Carlisle Theatre. That campaign did include business and corporate donors and was also successful. During the early stages and to date, the project received strong support from, our local business community and citizens. The building was purchased in 1991 and restoration efforts began. The marquee was repaired and relit in 1992 and the first public performance was presented in July 1993. The Carlisle Regional Performing Arts Center, Inc. was alive and moving forward.

From its inception, the purpose of the project has been to preserve the building, a classic example of art deco architecture, to provide an entertainment facility for the various elements of our community, to provide educational programs and introductions to the performing arts for our young people to provide fundraising opportunities for community organizations, and to provide a catalyst for downtown development.

Since then, the Theatre has been reinvigorated, and the programming has continued to develop, grow, and expand. There are a lot of exciting offerings at the Carlisle Theatre. We offer musical concerts and performers, live musical theatre productions from the Carlisle Theatre Company and Cantate Carlisle, our resident all-age community theater group and choir, and programming for children and families.

Over the past two years, we have made many changes to our facilities and our programming as we continue to keep the theater vibrant and offer high quality concerts, performances, and events for the people of Central Pennsylvania and beyond. We were also able to convert our movie equipment to digital projection and sound, which allows us to continue showing independent, foreign, mainstream, and award-winning films, and opens the door to limitless possibilities in the world of cinema. These changes were fortunate enough to have Harrisburg Magazine readers vote us Reader’s Choice Independent Movie Theater in both 2015 and 2016! In addition, we were named Best Theatre in Cumberland County by The Sentinel for both 2015 and 2016. We could not be more thankful and appreciative of these honors.

Most recently, we have begun focusing on Theatre rentals..concerts, meetings, weddings, birthday parties, and many other types of events. With these changes we plan to keep the Carlisle Theatre the "Gem of downtown Carlisle" for many years to come.

Local

See and Do

• Carlisle Regional Performing Arts Center, Inc. Carlisle (0.0 miles) - The theatre was built in 1939 as a movie theatre of the Commerford chain and was originally known as...
• The Rosemary House Mechanicsburg (9.7 miles) - We are one of America's oldest Herb, Spice and Tea shop located in a charming downtown Mechanics...
• Appalachian Trail Museum Gardners (13.1 miles) - The Appalachian Trail Museum is a non-profit organization that serves the Appalachian Trail communit...
• Paulus Orchards Dillsburg (14.3 miles) - Paulus Orchards is an agri-tourism adventure in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania with pick-your-own berries, ...
• Susquehanna Art Museum Harrisburg (16.6 miles) - Susquehanna Art Museum 1401 North 3rd Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 In 1989, the Susquehanna Art Museum...

Shopping

• Meadowbrooke Gourds - Carlisle (7.9 miles) - Nestled in the middle of a beautiful 200-acre farm at the foot of the Blue Mountain is Meadowbrooke ...
• Keystone Candle - Harrisburg (22.9 miles) - Keystone Candle is a family owned and operated factory and outlet store located between Harrisburg a...