The scaffolding covering the Strand Theater in Zelienople is a harbinger of the new future that's in the works for the 90-year-old movie house.

"The brick above the marquee has been slowly pulling away from the main part of the structure, and fixing it was one of our top priorities," said Ron Carter, president of the Strand Theater Initiative, the group that is bringing the Strand back to life. "It will look like nothing's been done after it's finished, but it will be structurally sound. It will also be cleaner and less of an eyesore."

The nonprofit group has received a $120,000 federal grant toward the theater's renovation, which is estimated to cost a total of $2 million. The movie house was built in 1914 and closed in the early 1980s.

Before receiving the grant through the office of state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, the group relied on corporate and individual sponsorships to help buy the Main Street building in 2002, pay for insurance and cover administrative expenses.

Over three years, the Strand Theater Initiative has managed to raise about $146,000 through donations and selling sponsorships for seats in the theater, said Carter, 40, a Zelienople native.

"A lot of that money has been used, which is why it was so great to have the federal funding come in," Carter said.

"We've been inching along for a year and a half, but in the past six months, we've really catapulted," said Chris Leisie, 37, a Cranberry native who serves as vice president of the group.

"Our [sponsorship] base has grown and dropped and grown and dropped," Leisie said, "but we know that it's going to happen, and we're committed to not stopping it until it does happen."

Harmony architect Roger Weaver took the Strand's initial designs and made them work in compliance with regulations. The plans have been submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and are awaiting approval.

"It's hard to say when the project will be done," Carter said. "We would have liked to be finished by now, but it's more up to the agendas of the private and governmental funding groups that we're working with than it is our own."

Once full funding is in place, the renovation work is expected to take about eight months, he said. "If we have to do it in short spurts, it will take a little longer."

Carter said Orie got the theater included in legislation for the governor's capital budget for $947,000, which would require matching funds. "That's the kind of thing we ask the foundations for help with," he said.

The money won't be guaranteed until the legislation is passed, but Carter said, "it certainly helps our cause if foundations have donated or will donate enough money to meet the matching requirement. Then we could be in serious construction by July or August."

Even before the Strand group is able to use its theater, it has begun to deliver on its promise to bring a variety of cultural events to the region.

With help from the community, it kicked off a production of "The Fantasticks" on Thursday, which continues its run at 8 p.m. tomorrow through Saturday in St. Paul Lutheran Church in Zelienople. Proceeds benefit the Strand.

"A show like this demonstrates the type of cultural programming we're committed to bringing into the north Pittsburgh region even without a house," Carter said, "and we've been doing that almost from the word go."

Last summer, the group showed classic movies on the back of the building, but Carter said that can't be done now because of the work that is under way.

Other events to benefit the Strand are two jazz concerts June 25 and 26 in a newly opened business on Main Street, Beecher's Gelato and Gourmet Coffee.

"Last summer, I volunteered at the Strand's summer theater to help with concessions and get some recognition [for my business]," said David Beecher Brauer, 32, owner of the shop. "I asked [Carter] if he was interested in my putting together a benefit concert for the Strand, and now we're making it an annual event."

Local jazz musicians Dan Heasley, Dave Sendef and Mason Embry will perform from 9 to 11 p.m. June 25 and 7 to 11 p.m. June 26.

On the Fourth of July, Passavant Retirement Community is sponsoring a performance of the River City Brass Band at Cranberry's annual Community Day to benefit the Strand.

"When business leaders see events happening and construction going on, I sense it will be a snowball effect," Leisie said.

Business owners like Brauer recognize that reopening the Strand will provide financial benefits to the community, and they hope that others will follow suit. "The more culture, the better," Brauer said. "This is a nice Main Street, and it's a great place for people to meet and be entertained by good artists. I think it has the potential to be even nicer than Sewickley. ... Any time you have something the community can get behind as a group [that] makes everyone feel good about their town and that makes everyone else like it, too."

"The Fantasticks" is being directed by Zelienople native Nathan Brewer, who lives in New York City. He volunteered to serve as director on a trip home to visit his father, the Rev. William Brewer, pastor of St. Paul.

Brewer, who is the director of the Westminster Conservatory Actors Co. in Princeton, N.J., said that volunteering his talents for the Strand is a nice way to pay tribute to the place where he began his career.

"I was always very active in the theater while I was growing up in Zelie," said Brewer, 23. A former student of Pittsburgh's Civic Light Opera Academy, Brewer also participated in Cranberry's Comtra Theater and began his directing career at Lutherlyn, St. Paul's summer camp in Prospect.

"I had my own theater company called Christian Youth Productions, which I directed from eighth until 12th grade," Brewer recalled. Three of "The Fantasticks" cast members are former members of Christian Youth Productions, he added.

"In a town that is so active in the arts, with such a great faculty at Seneca Valley and churches like St. Paul and Calvin Presbyterian that have such wonderful theater programs, we need a good stage," Brewer said. "Sitting on historic Main Street, the Strand will be perfect."