GOOD NEWS: Pearlstine gift helps to launch new West Ashley Theatre Center

From left are: Jan Pearlstine Lipov, Julian Wiles and Susan Pearlstine. (Photo provided.)

Staff reports  |  The Pearlstine Family Fund has donated $250,000 to help pay for the $1 million West Ashley Theatre Center performance and education facility being built in Ashley Landing on Sam Rittenberg Blvd.

The facility’s 127-seat performance venue will be known as the Pearlstine Theatre and is nicknamed “The Pearl,” according to Charleston Stage Founder and Producing Director Julian Wiles.

“With this very generous $250,000 gift, Charleston Stage has now raised $850,000 for this new 10,000 square foot performance/education facility,” Wiles said in a press release.  “We still need to raise another $200,000 to complete the project, but we’re well on our way.

“We are very grateful to the Pearlstine family for providing this very generous lead gift and of course welcome additional donors to this special project. We have launched an adopt-a-seat campaign and encourage donors to name a seat in honor of someone special. You may adopt-a-seat online at CharlestonStage.com/Adopt-a-Seat.”
Wiles said Charleston Stage’s MainStage productions would continue to be produced at the historic Dock Street Theatre in downtown Charleston.  But the new West Ashley Theatre Center will bring new productions and new theatre education classes to West Ashley.

Also in Good News.

Giving Tree.  The Lowcountry Food Bank last week honored donors who gave at least $5,000 by placing a personalized apple on its Giving Tree.  “This Giving Tree represents more than $2.5 million in donations. It represents those children and those seniors and those families who don’t always know where their next meal is coming from,” said Pat Walker, LCFB president and CEO. “Here’s what your donations enabled us to do — we distributed more than 28 million pounds of food, with almost eight million pounds of that being fresh produce last year.”

Student readers.  Congratulations to the 30-plus students at Charles Towne Montessori who raised $7,882.41 for the Lowcountry Food Bank through a one-day read-a-thon recently.  They’ll visit the nonprofit on April 10 to deliver the check.  (Maybe the school should get an apple too!)

My Father’s Dragon art.  The Charleston Gaillard Center will feature elementary student art during its inaugural art installation.  Par of the Gaillard’s Education Initiative, the center will feature art by students from M/C. Hursey and Murray LaSaine elementary schools from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the main lobby through April 11.  Teachers incorporated arts into the students’ daily curriculum by embracing “My Father’s Dragon,” a story by Ruth Stiles Gannett.  While the story was read aloud to students, they also were encouraged to draw what they were listening to “to have a much broader vision and more thorough understanding,” a news release said.  Students also participated in ceramic dragon-making during the program.

Great internship.  Hats off to Eleis Lester, a horticulture student at Trident Technical College who has been picked for a gardening internship this summer in Paris at the Garden of Bagatelle.  Lester is the fourth Trident student to participate in the internship that Magnolia sponsors with the French Heritage Society in Paris. The local program, established in 2011, also receives support from the Alliance Française de Charleston.

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