The “grandest small-town theater in America” is entering a new era under the leadership of its new artistic director at Gettysburg College’s Majestic Theater. Brett W. Messenger, who’s only been with the College since June, jests about being reminded daily that he has huge shoes to fill in the shadow of Jeffrey Gabel, the founding artistic director who retired earlier this year.
He says there’s a lot of pressure for him to fill those shoes, but it’s “really exciting because that says this community cares, that they are invested and engaged.” And Gabel, who ran the theater for 20 years, stays in touch regularly and has very quickly become a mentor and friend.
Originally the largest vaudeville and silent movie theater in south-central PA, the Majestic Theater was purchased by Gettysburg College in1988. In 2004, the College began a $16.5 million restoration under Gabel’s leadership. Beautifully restored with embossed tin ceilings and marble floors, the theater reopened in 2005 as an arts venue housing the large proscenium theater with an elevating orchestra pit and balcony seating, two cinemas, an art gallery, a patrons’ lounge, concessions on two floors and a café named after Mamie Eisenhower.
The College uses the main auditorium for large theatrical productions and as rehearsal and performance space for the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. And the Majestic offers an ongoing slate of independent movies, art exhibits, concerts, lectures and performances by local and international artists to the Gettysburg community.
Messenger came onboard in answer to the College’s nationwide search initiated in the spring of 2023. He previously served (most recently) as the Curatorial Director of Live Arts at the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ. There he created an arts series featuring world premieres of theater, music, dance, interdisciplinary projects, jazz, film and rock. He brings a fresh perspective and lasting relationships he’s built with internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles, including the award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, to the Gettysburg arts scene.
In addition to this season’s shows planned by Gabel, Messenger has curated up-and-coming musicians to perform in the historic auditorium. And, he says, he feels inspired by Gettysburg’s thriving creative community to create unexpected and “intellectually startling engagement opportunities” for students.
“Gettysburg is bursting at the seams with live music and art…it attracts many interesting individuals and artists,” he says. “I am excited to contribute in a meaningful way to this artistic landscape and to think of the Majestic as a site of creation.”
In February, for instance, Korean American troubadour and unusual blues poet/artist Nat Myers — riding onto campus on his skateboard — will perform an evening concert at the Majestic and participate separately in a creative writing workshop with students at the College.
“Music students are accustomed to working and rehearsing with professional musicians that come here and that’s good,” Messenger says. “I think it’s expected for musicians to work with musicians, and it’s expected for writers to work with writers; it’s not expected for creative writers to work with, you know, this skateboarding strange artist from the outside.”
Intending to bring works by favorite artists that “really highlight how impactful our smaller theater can be,” Messenger has also added a series of shows about women in music to the 2024-2025 season. Made possible by Kenneth and Elizabeth Lundeen and the Majestic Theater Centennial Endowment Fund, the live shows will be performed in the flex cinema — an intimate space equipped with professional lighting and a stage.
The series will begin Feb. 13-15, with international artist Sylvia Milo performing The Other Mozart, the forgotten story of Nannerl Mozart (Amadeus’s genius older sister). March 20-23, Tymisha Harris will perform the musical, Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play (the story of Josephine Baker, the first African American international superstar to crusade for civil rights in a segregated America). And April 11-12, Julliard-trained violist Isabel Hagen will host two evenings of music and unique stand-up comedy.
“All of the upcoming shows that I have added to this season represent experiments in terms of content and how we operate,” Messenger says. “Come and be part of the experiment and give us your feedback! A season of performances represents a conversation between the curator and the audience — you have to be in the audience to be part of the conversation!”
At the Oct. 25 One Night in Memphis concert, Messenger called out Gabel in his curtain speech:
“We call this the grandest small-town theatre in America for so many reasons, reasons like the great crowds we have here tonight that have inhabited this space for 99 years, the people who had the vision to first build it and then to renovate it. The people who told that story that raised that money, the community members that came to help…and one man, in particular, who happens to be here tonight.”
Messenger says he feels honored that Gabel also gifted him the opportunity to plan a stellar evening to celebrate the Majestic’s centennial (Nov. 14, 2025) and promises to share more about that soon.
He’s not sure about filling Gabel’s shoes, but says he hopes to lay a new pair beside them.
For the latest Majestic Theater news and to sign up for email updates on newly announced performances and films, see https://www.gettysburgmajestic.org. 2024-2025 Celebrity Season tickets can be purchased at the website, at 25 Carlisle St. during box office hours, or by calling (717) 337-8200.
It’s great to see the Majestic, where I saw all the great movies of the 1950s, restored nearly to the theater I remember. But I do miss the Met Live opera performances and we are hoping the new leadership will consider bringing them back.