When it first opened in 1938, The State Theatre was said to have been built in record time -- four months -- and cost only $70,000. Opening the theater for a second time, however, took five years of renovations and more than $4.5 million.

But Executive Director Mike Negra is glad the theater was revitalized and has made it to its first birthday.

"We're excited to have our first birthday and looking forward to our second," he said.

To celebrate this occasion, The State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave., will hold its First Community Birthday Bash, beginning at 8 tonight. Tickets are $10 and are available at the box office.

Susan Riddiford Shedd, operations manager at the theater, said she wanted to bring back local groups and a few others who represent the community for the "Birthday Bash."

She said all the groups will perform voluntarily to benefit the theater.

Each group scheduled to perform will take the stage for 20 minutes.

"Artists are donating their time and talent, and vendors are doing the same thing," Shedd said.

Free coffee from Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St., a birthday cake and free popcorn will be served in the lobby.

Shedd said a montage of photos from each live performance in the past year will be shown in addition to a film that will demonstrate "a day in the life" of the theater.

The effort to renovate the theater first began in 1999 and was incorporated in 2001 as The State Theatre Inc. Negra said The State Theatre was the "last saveable" theater in the area, and he knew there was a need for a community-run performing arts center in State College.

"The community as a whole has stepped up and allowed us to open, but we still have work to do," he said.

As the venue and its staff look forward to another year, its first year seems to have been a learning experience.

"It's a lot like gambling," Shedd said. "It's a tricky business."

Negra said the theater's first year has exceeded his expectations.

"It's certainly something that I'm proud to be a part of," he said. "I think overall the local productions have been the thing I've been most happy with."

The theater is still trying to earn enough to finish paying for the renovations.

Shedd said as soon as it is financially stable she believes the theater will look further into outreach and children's educational programming.

"Once we get our sea legs, we can reach out more," she said.

Negra said he wants the theater to be a place where local artists can thrive in the future.

"Our theater mission is to provide a venue for local performing arts groups," he said. "What I'm looking forward to is seeing other people's dreams realized, both financially and artistically."

Performers in the community are grateful The State Theatre is now open and available as a venue for local artists.

"I think it's amazing that they have brought back that place to life. [It's a] tremendous enrichment for the cultural landscape of State College," said Andrew Koslowski, artistic director of Pennsylvania Dance Theatre, which will perform at the Birthday Bash.

Anthony Leach, associate music professor at Penn State and director of Essence of Joy, which will also perform at tonight's event, agreed.

"What's interesting to me is their vision to be a showcase for artists from the State College community ... as well as a professional house for artists and ensembles that may be doing regional or non-regional work," Leach said. "It's great to have a facility and a management that ... accommodate the artist and the audience."

The State Theatre stage will host eight groups tonight at the Birthday Bash including:

Nittany Knights

The Nittany Knights, the only Centre Region "barbershop chorus," is an all-male group with 38 to 40 singers, though only about 25 of its members will be performing.

Given the 10-to-15-minute time frame, the Knights plan to sing four or five holiday carols such as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

Pam Monk's Forbidden Valley

Pam Monk's Forbidden Valley will not have its own act but instead will be the transitioning group between each of the performances.

Accompanied by piano, the group of three community members will sing "Weird Al" Yankovic-like parodies and spoofs.

Richard Biever, a graduate student of directing and the pianist for the group, is also a director of Singing Onstage, a local musical theater training and performance studio.

The three singers are Penn State employees, including Monk who is the producer of the group and former board member of The State Theatre.

"We all have day jobs so we like having time to perform. It's a way of being creative," Monk said.

Pennsylvania Dance Theatre

For The State Theatre's Birthday Bash, the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre (PDT) will perform "Province," choreographed by Mark Taylor.

Koslowski described the group as a "modern dance repertoire company that's based in State College."

Performing the duet will be Koslowski and another member of the company, Jill Brighton.

Koslowski said "Province" is about an "unfolding relationship of a man and a woman," with a meditative and dark quality to it.

"I think the piece has a great depth to it," Koslowski said. "It has a great accessibility to an audience [who] is not familiar with modern performance."

Essence of Joy

Essence of Joy, a 49-member choral student group that sings repertoires from the African tradition, will be singing a cappella with accompanied pieces at the birthday bash.

Leach described the group's upcoming performance at The State Theatre as a "mixed bag ... with a little holiday music."

State College Area High School Jazz Band

The 20-member jazz band from State High will play a variety of swing tunes in its big band style, said Richard Victor, the group's director.

The band performed last year at The State Theatre for First Night State College. In 2006, the group was a finalist in the Essentially Ellington competition in New York City and traveled to Switzerland for the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Victor, who has directed the group for 32 years, said the jazz band will represent the school district among all the other local groups at The State Theatre Birthday Bash.

"It should be a nice event to have all those groups together," he said.

Singing Onstage

After three professional productions at The State Theatre, the musical theater company Singing Onstage is comfortable in front of the 570-seat theater, co-director Richard Biever said.

"We love the space and love working there," he said.

The company performed Dreamgirls at The State Theatre in January, Oliver! in July and Little Shop of Horrors in October. Biever said six members of the company will perform a "memory" from each of the shows.

"The local arts community is grateful for another venue," he said. "It's a joy to perform in the space."

Centre Dance

About 30 dancers between the age of 11 and 18 will perform scenes from the Nutcracker Remix during Centre Dance's segment of the Birthday Bash performance.

Nicole Swope, director of Centre Dance, said holding the company's recital at The State Theatre earlier this year gave the younger dancers a great professional experience.

"It gives my students a chance to dance with professional lighting, a great sound system and professional management," she said.

The group has performed The Nutcracker at Mount Nittany Middle School for 13 years, but will perform it in The State Theatre for the first time this weekend. The company's competition group will also perform.

Music Academy Suzuki Program

Violin students between the ages of 2 and 8 will perform as part of the Suzuki Program directed by Sabra Statham.

Shedd said she wanted the Suzuki Program to participate in the program so that even children know they have a place performing at The State Theatre.

"This is a theater for all people, not just for national acts," she said.