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Donk’s Theater finds a new, temporary home: MHS

The show must go on.

Less than a month after its building was lost following a roof collapse on Jan. 22, Donk’s Theater has a new, temporary home—the Harry M. Ward Auditorium at Mathews High School.

Mathews County School Board members, meeting Tuesday night in the MHS media center, unanimously approved a request from Lynda Smith Greve, talent and production manager of Donk’s, to hold performances in the school’s auditorium on a regular basis for the remainder of 2016, starting in April.

Donk’s Theater in Hudgins opened in 1947 as a movie theater. In 1975, five years after the last movie was shown there, it reopened as Virginia’s Li’l Ole Opry, a local showcase for country music talent. It served in that capacity for 40 years, with shows held every other Saturday night.

All that changed on the evening of Friday, Jan. 22, when the roof of the historic building collapsed under the weight of snow and ice. Josie Thorpe, the building’s owne...

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