For decades, whenever Stacee Olden attended shows at the Wichita Orpheum, she wasn’t just listening to the music.
“I would be in the audience watching the performers, but I would be looking around the theater going, ‘This place is incredible. This is where I want to work. This is where I want to be,’” she said.
Now Olden has her dream gig. After three years as development director at the historic theater in downtown Wichita, she recently was named its executive director.
“My goal … was just to be a part of it — get in the doors and be a part of the Orpheum,” she said. “And here I am, really right where I want to be to make the biggest difference that I possibly can.”
Since it opened in 1922, Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre has endured the threat of demolition and undergone several rounds of renovations.
Of more than 100 theaters across the country that were built for the vaudeville circuit at the turn of the century, 17 are still in operation. Of those, only the Wichita Orpheum, at the corner of First and Broadway, is not fully restored.
Olden said too many historic buildings have been shuttered or demolished, in Wichita and elsewhere.
“Over the course of time we’ve just lost one here or there. And I think the kicker was when we lost the Miller,” she said, referring to another Wichita theater that opened the same year as the Orpheum. It closed in 1970 and was demolished in 1972.
“We lost the Miller Theater overnight. There was no notice, people didn’t know this was happening. They woke up the next morning and it was gone,” Olden said. “And I feel like that was the moment everyone turned their eyes to the Orpheum and thought, ‘We can’t let that happen to this theater.’”
Early performers at the Wichita Orpheum included George Burns and Gracie Allen, magician Harry Houdini, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Orpheum was mostly a movie house where crowds would see films like “King Kong” and the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” But by the early 1970s, crowds stopped going downtown.
The Orpheum closed in November 1976. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that the Orpheum’s board of directors announced plans to renovate the theater little by little, as money became available. They’ve since replaced the air-conditioning, reopened the balcony, replaced the marquee and renovated the bathrooms, lobby and concession stand.
“There have been many stops and starts along the way, and I think that has definitely made it difficult for the community to look at it as valuable,” Olden said. “They love it, they appreciate it, but the value is not fully recognized.”
A Wichita native and graduate of Southeast High School, Olden remembers when the Orpheum started its journey toward restoration. She worked for two other local nonprofits — Make a Wish Kansas and United Way of the Plains — before joining the Orpheum team in 2021.
The Orpheum continues to operate, hosting annual events like the Tallgrass Film Festival and performances by musicians, comedians and dancers.
“She’s a strong girl. She has withstood the test of time,” Olden said. “The one piece that’s missing is the final restoration – really getting her up to the standard that she was before.”
A full-scale renovation is estimated to cost about $9 million, and it likely will require closing the theater for some time. Olden isn’t ready to reveal those details yet, but she promises a major announcement sometime later this summer.
Until then, she says her mission is clear:
“Making it truly the crown jewel that it is meant to be and should be,” she said. “I’d love to see the legacy go on another hundred years.”
