The Denis Theatre Foundation campaign has crossed the $2 million mark thanks to a donation from resident Ellie Hall, a co-owner of the Yogli Mogli frozen yogurt shop on Washington Road. She made the donation, the largest gift from an individual donor, in memory of her husband, Brian, who died last year in a plane crash. Hall has requested that the theater’s concession stand be named for him.

The Denis Theatre Foundation Board Chair Jennifer Smokelin says, “This is a huge milestone for the project, which has made incredible progress—especially in the past several months. Construction planning is proceeding, and if our fundraising success continues, we should be in the position soon to set a construction start date.”

Established in 2007, the nonprofit Denis Theatre Foundation, has launched a $4.5 million campaign to renovate and re-open the Denis Theatre as an independent cinema and community cultural center. The project, which has been divided into two phases, is seeking funding to open one screen in 2014 and two more screens and other amenities by 2015. More information is available at www.denistheatre.org.

Illustration by Sandra Ward