Grand Opening November 2027 — Founding donors are being named now, until the doors open.  Claim your place →

Foundry Entertainment Hall

Where Art Is Forged

Live Music · Comedy · Theater · Classes · Community Nights

Russellville’s first community live-theatre venue. Whoever you are — if you want a part in the story, there’s a seat and a stage waiting for you.

Become a Founder See the Vision
501(c)(3) · Tax-deductible · EIN 92-2044457  |  Russellville’s first community live-theatre venue · the founding round is open
Russellville, AR · A 501(c)(3) Venue · Opening Nov 2027

There’s nothing here yet. That’s the point.

This is Foundry Entertainment Hall today — a raw steel barn in downtown Russellville. In November 2027 it becomes Russellville’s first community live-theatre venue. Before the paint dries, we’re naming the people who built it. Be one of them.

About Us · Who We Are

A Home of Our Own

JP

“I stepped onto my first stage at age five, in Clarksville — fifty-one years ago. I grew up right here in Pope County, spent more than a decade in Los Angeles as a working actor, director, and producer, and founded Bold Theatre. Now I’ve come home to build the place I always wished we’d had.”

John J. Pistone
Founder & Board President · Artistic Director, Bold Theatre · U.S. Navy combat-camera veteran · American Academy of Dramatic Arts

Bold Theatre, operating as Foundry Entertainment Hall, is converting a 5,000 sq ft tin metal warehouse in downtown Russellville, Arkansas into Russellville’s first dedicated community live-theatre venue — raw industrial bones, reimagined as a cultural home for the River Valley. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we’ll serve Pope County with live music, comedy, theater, classes, workshops, and community events. The nearest comparable venue is 80–90 miles away. We are changing that.

Our promise: Foundry is a place where all are welcomed, every voice is heard, and everyone who wants to take part in storytelling has a stage to do it on — on the stage, backstage, or in the seats.

Our Mission

To provide the River Valley with a permanent, community-owned performing arts space that serves artists, audiences, and the cultural life of Russellville, AR.

The Venue

75-seat capacity · 12′×20′ performance platform · 5,000 sq ft · a flexible, reconfigurable floor · 511 N El Paso Avenue, Russellville, AR 72801.

Our Home, Secured

A signed 10-year lease on our downtown building, with a 10-year extension at our option — up to two decades of secured home, so donor dollars build the venue, not a landlord’s equity. Bold Theatre DBA Foundry Entertainment Hall · EIN 92-2044457.

Why This, Why Now

The nearest venue like this is 80 miles away.

65,000 people in Pope County. 8,700 students at Arkansas Tech. And nowhere within an hour and a half to see live music, comedy, or theater on a stage of our own. Foundry isn’t a bet on whether people want this — it’s the room the Valley has never had.

80mi
To the nearest comparable venue
65,000
Pope County residents
8,700
Arkansas Tech students in town
0
Intimate venues here — until now
This isn’t a leap into the unknown. Foundry is led by a Pope County native with 51 years in live theater — trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a working actor, director, and producer, and founder and artistic director of Bold Theatre. Bold Theatre has held 501(c)(3) status for 4+ years and produced live theatre in Los Angeles until 2023, when it lost its building. Foundry is our permanent Arkansas revival — and over the past year we earned $16,000 providing event and entertainment services across the River Valley. Proven people. Home at last.
The Vision

Your dollars build this — here’s exactly where they go.

We’re not asking you to trust a rendering. Here is the real building, today, with the plan laid over it. Every space carries a name and a price. Fund the thing you can point to.

The Foundry space as it stands today
The space today — raw steel & open concrete
BACKSTAGE — CURTAINED BACKSTAGE SEATING 75 seats · claim one $1,000 STAGE name it · $25,000 (overhangs removed this side) CONCESSIONS name it · $7,500 RESTROOMS ▲ FRONT DOOR · N EL PASO AVE
One setup — the room reconfigures

Left: the real space today. Right: the layout — stage on the right (overhangs coming down), seating on the left, concessions and restrooms flanking the entrance, backstage across the rear and right. Red trusses overhead — name a beam, $2,500.

A flexible room. This is one configuration. The stage, seating, and floor rearrange to fit the show — proscenium theater, cabaret tables, a standing-room concert, comedy-in-the-round, or a cleared floor for a private event. One space, many nights, more ways to earn its keep.

Drag to see it forged →

Left: the raw space as it stands. Right: an artist’s impression of opening night.

Raw interior today
Envisioned venue
Today
Opening Night
◀ drag ▶

Artist’s impression for illustration. The bones — red steel, concrete, the open span — are real and already ours.

Where Every Dollar Goes

$199,000 = a finished, open building.

Not a vague goal — a keys-in-the-door number, with a safety margin built in. We raise capital once to build the room. After that, concessions, rentals, and classes keep the lights on. We never have to raise it again.

The Founding Round is now open
$199,000 builds the venue — the full construction plus a contingency so a surprise invoice can’t stop us. Every founding gift is named, and the earliest founders choose first.
Phase 1 · $110K
Get the Keys Phase 2 · $155K
Open the Doors Phase 3 · $199K
+ Contingency & reserve
HVAC — heat & cool 5,000 sq ft$30,000
Electrical — 200A service, stage & house power$25,000
Lighting & sound — rig, PA, monitors$22,000
Restrooms — 2 ADA, plumbing from raw$20,000
Stage — platform + removing right-side overhangs$15,000
Insulation, interior walls, acoustics$15,000
Seating — 75 seats$11,000
Backstage build-out — rear + right, curtains, green room$10,000
Fire / life-safety — alarm, egress, ADA$10,000
Concessions & lobby build-out$8,000
Permits, engineering & inspections$9,000
Contingency & opening operating reserve$24,000
Become a Founder

Name it. Claim it. Keep it — for good.

Most people find a venue after it’s finished and their name is already on the wall. You found it while the steel’s still bare. Founders get named, not thanked — for the life of the venue. This door closes the night we open.

0 of 75
Seats claimed — be first
0 of 8
Trusses named — be first
OPEN
Founding round · be the first gift
Cornerstone
$25,000

Name The Stage

The most-spoken name in the building — announced from the mic at every show, on every playbill. One available.

Only 1 — unclaimed
$12,500

Name The Marquee

Your name on the downtown façade — every drive-by on N El Paso Ave, every exterior photo.

Only 1 — unclaimed
$8,000

Name The Backstage

The green room and wings every performer passes through — a plaque seen by every artist who plays the room. One available.

Only 1 — unclaimed
$2,500

Name a Red Truss

Your name on one of the original steel beams overhead — the signature of the room, in every event photo.

All 8 available
Most Popular
$1,000

Claim Your Seat

Your name or dedication on a seat back for the life of the venue, in the online seat map. 75 seats, hard cap.

All 75 available
$250

The Founders Wall

Your name laser-etched on the permanent lobby plaque. The record of who built this, mounted for good.

Open

Also nameable: Box Office $7,500 · Concessions $7,500 · Name a Row $5,000 · Sound & Lighting Booth $5,000 · The Rivet (etched name) $250 · Founding Friend (digital wall) $50. All gifts 100% tax-deductible.

Claim your place →
The Space, Honestly

This is the raw truth. No polish, no pretending.

Original 1960s steel, kept. Polished concrete, done. Everything else gets built by this community, in public, on this page. Watch your gift take shape.

Red steel trusses
The Trusses — original steel, kept
Open concrete span
The House — 75 seats go here
Original steel structure
The Bones — original steel, kept
Open bay door with light
The Bay — load-in & lobby
Give Every Year

Join the Circle

Naming gifts build the room once. The Circle keeps it alive — annual, renewable support that funds the season. Separate from your founding gift.

Steel · $250/yr

Member events, presale access, name in the season program.

Forge · $500/yr

All Steel benefits + 2 season tickets + a guided hard-hat tour of the build.

Anvil · $1,000/yr

All Forge benefits + reserved seating + invitations to opening receptions.

Give smarter: Gifts of appreciated stock, donor-advised funds (DAF), and IRA qualified charitable distributions (QCD, 70½+) can give more at lower after-tax cost. Legacy/bequest language available on request. We’re not tax advisors — ask yours; we’ll make the gift frictionless.
Who’s Building This

Real people. Real accountability.

Donors fund people, not EINs. Foundry is governed by a working board of neighbors bringing Bold Theatre’s stage home to Russellville.

JP

John J. Pistone

Founder & Board President

BI

Brenda Irmer

Board Member

RH

Ray Hanna

Board Member

RS

Rudy Solis

Board Member

AA

Andre Artis

Board Member

VT

Vanessa Tavarez

Board Member

Get Involved · Join the Team

There’s a place for you here.

We’re building this with our neighbors, and there’s a job for every pair of hands — on stage, backstage, and out front. You don’t need experience. You just need to want in. Everybody’s welcome at Foundry — front-porch rules.

“Ten years in the Navy, pointing a camera at other folks’ stories. Fifty years on stage, telling them. I grew up right here in Pope County — now I’ve come home to build a place where you can tell yours.” — John

Audition & Perform

Actors, musicians, comedians, storytellers — every age, every skill level, first-timers included. Sung in the church choir? Built sets in high school? Did a 4-H showmanship day? You already have what we need. ATU students — there’s a stage for your practicum too.

Volunteer & Crew

Ran sound for the youth group? Handy with a hammer, a sewing machine, a paintbrush? We need hands on lights, sound, the box office, ushering, concessions, and the build. Come as you are.

Take a Class · Share Your Craft

Classes for every age — after-school and homeschool drama for kids, stagecraft for teens, acting and improv for grown-ups, and “back on stage” workshops for folks 55 and up. Know a trade? Come share what you know with the next generation.

Get in touch →