ABILENE -- Since becoming a movie theater in the 1930s, the Plaza Theatre, 408 N.W. 2nd, has served as a rite of passage for Abilene's youth.

Last month, Abilene lost the Plaza Theatre, its only movie theater. Part of the roof and a wall of the 120-year-old former opera house collapsed, leaving the theater unsalvageable.

"It's a part of everybody," said co-owner Cathy Strowig, who began working at the theater when she was 13 and spent Saturday afternoons at the matinee. "When you're in middle school in a small town, that's where you go for your first piece of freedom."

That is one reason Abilene Unified School District 435 superintendent Jim Lambert is concerned.

"I think the theater has impacted the community, but the group we're always thinking about is the middle school-age kids," Lambert said of about 360 Abilene students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. "It was almost a rite of passage for kids that age in this community."

The theater gave these students, who weren't old enough to drive, a place to escape from their parents and be independent, he said. Now the nearest theaters are 20 miles away in Junction City or 30 miles away in Salina.

Both Lambert and city officials said they would like to see private enterprise develop another theater. Strowig said she probably won't continue in the business. She teaches in Salina and said she operated the theater as a service to the community.

If no one steps forward, the school district possibly would develop a theater in the school or as a school-to-work program, which wouldn't be a first in Kansas.

Neodesha went 35 years without a movie theater before high school students in an entrepreneurial class opened a theater three years ago, Neodesha USD 461 Superintendent John Burke said.

"We opened a theater at the high school," he said. "We purchased the equipment and had connections with people who could get us good films."

The school board closed the operation after 20 weeks until junior high students approached the board, still wanting a theater. Students used grant money and found a more prominent location in December 1997. After renovating the building, they opened the 130-seat theater for business.

In response to Abilene having a similar project, Burke advised them to focus on finding a good location and developing a sound business plan.

"The last thing would be to hang in there because it's not perfect all the time, but I'd encourage him," he said. "It's wonderful when the school and community work together."

While Abilene may get another movie theater, Abilene will lose a piece of history in the 600-seat, art deco Plaza Theatre. It opened as the Bonebrake Opera House in 1879, and was converted into a movie theater when Strowig's grandfather bought the building in 1930. The theater was the site of three world premiers, and presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his first news conference there.

"A lot of people had their first date or first kiss there," Strowig said, recalling a neighbor who met her husband there. "The stories around town are everywhere."

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