‘Home:’ Corinth Theatre fights back against possible eviction from long-standing building

CORINTH, Miss. (WMC) - A long-standing community arts theatre in Mississippi is fighting to stay in their home.

City of Corinth officials are asking the Corinth Theatre-Arts to leave the city owned building on Fulton drive after city officials said citizens raised concerns about operations.

Josh Steen, the executive director of the theatre, said inside of the building is decades worth of history. He said they could move the theatre, and have received offers, but Steen said the building is ‘home.’

“We have former directors. We have a former Miss Mississippi on our wall,” said Steen.

Steen said the names on the walls, some decades old, stand as a reminder of how far the theatre has come and the impact it’s had throughout the community.

“I think every single time I walk into this building about the first time as a child I walked through that door back there. Smells the same. It does. That, that is what the fight is for,” said Steen.

Steen said now, they are fighting to stay in their long-standing home. He said they’ve put on performances inside of the building for almost 60 years.

“We’ve always done a good mix of things that maybe haven’t seen before and things that they’re very familiar with. We’ve found that the content that we’ve produced over the last 10 years, has caused our audience to grow,” said Steen.

Steen said they have people that drive hundreds of miles weekly to be a part of and see shows which helps bring revenue to the city.

Steen also said they are selling out a record number of shows despite selling tickets at the highest price in their history because of the economy.

“Why? Why do you want to do this because they’ve said it’s not about money. They’ve not said we’ve been bad tenants,” said Steen. “We can’t get a very clear reason other than we don’t like the people. We don’t like the way that some of these things make use feel.”

Steen said he has no other option but to fight back and has hired an attorney to help preserve history and keep the theatre alive in the building that’s truly home for the entire Corinth community.

“We have been given this wonderful gift, and our community will be a better place if this gift continues to grow,” said Steen.

Steen said there is an upcoming court date scheduled for June 25 regarding the eviction.

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