by KYW's Karin Phillips

A popular South Jersey theatre is on the comeback trail after funding cuts shortened its season last year. 

It looked for a time as though the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in Marlton, NJ would go under after funding cuts.  But Holly O'Brien, theatre series coordinator, says reports of the theatre's death were a little exaggerated:

"So we had the two shows last year. They did real well. We didn't actually go under, we didn't actually stop operations, but we really did scale back last year."

Now, thanks to a local foundation, a state grant, supporters, and sponsors,there'll be four performances this year at the 1,500-seat theatre on Tomlinson Mill Road -- double the number of last year's performances. 

A perpetual crowd-pleaser, Neil Berg's "106 Years of Broadway" will open the comeback season on July 13th.
  
There also will be Gershwin's "Sweet and Low-Down," August 17th, and a concert by singer Linda Eder on September 13th. And to wrap up the 2008 season, a holiday fundraiser with Marvin Hamlisch will be held on December 20th. 

The theatre went down to two shows last summer because of school district funding cuts.  Holly O'Brien is the theatre's series coordinator:

"We had to work on having performances that we could make sure that we could be successful at financially with ticket sales."

For more information, go to sjtheater.com. 

(Photos by KYW's Karin Phillips)