CHARLESTON, Ill. — Father-and-son duo Rick and Nick Riccio are in production for a kick-start campaign to raise funds for a documentary about the Will Rogers Theatre.

Hopes for the future documentary are to heighten awareness of the historic theater, 705 Monroe Ave., as well as to raise funds for its restoration and to share the rich history and stories of those who attended the theater in its prime, according to Rick Riccio.

The idea for the documentary turned out to be a happy accident for the Riccios.

Rick Riccio said he stumbled upon the "Save the Will Rogers" group on Facebook, founded by Tom Vance, and joked with his son about making a documentary on the theater. Nick said he was all for the idea.

Nick Riccio has a bachelor of arts in film from Full Sail University in Florida and is a cinematographer at Heroic Age Studios in Mount Zion. Rick is a retired history professor from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and the owner of Riccio Exhibit Services in Lerna.

As Rick, a Lerna resident, dove deeper into the history of the old theater, he said he became hooked on the idea of making the documentary.

"I kept hearing people talk about how great the theater was and they had such good memories of it," Rick said. "The more I looked into the history it became more and more fascinating."

On Wednesday, the Riccios interviewed an array of people who all agreed that the Will Rogers influenced their lives in one way or another.

One of those interviewees was the co-owner of the Will Rogers, Katie Troccoli.

Troccoli said she hopes the documentary will raise money to help with various renovations of the theater and, in the bigger picture, will eventually bring more jobs to Charleston.

"The documentary is to draw attention to the theater and to raise awareness of local movie theaters in small towns," Troccoli said. "If we can save the movie theaters we can then start having shows, bring in storefronts and then attract more jobs to the area."

Troccoli said money has been the biggest hurdle in the work to restore the Will Rogers.

"We have been struggling — it was a big deal to just get the loan," Troccoli said. "We aren't millionaires; we are just working people."

Troccoli is kick-starting an effort of her own, in addition to giving her blessing for the documentary.

According to Troccoli, she hasn't been able to move forward with restoring the Will Rogers because the exterior electricity system is required by Ameren Illinois to have a costly update, which has a price tag between $18,000 and $20,000.

"If we can get the electric upgraded, we will be able to rent the storefronts to small businesses who want to open in them," Troccoli said. "This will create jobs in the City of Charleston. These storefronts have not been in use for 20 years."

Troccoli set up a fundraising page for those who wish to donate to helping restore the Will Rogers: www.gofundme.com/49rb4o.

As of right now, the donation page has raised $480 since it was started on Friday, with a goal of $18,000.

Troccoli said any additional money raised over the set goal will continue to go back into the Will Rogers.

In November 2011, Katie and her husband Jim Troccoli of Ottawa bought the Will Rogers and partnered with Tim Burke of Hollywood with the intention of restoring the theater back to its glory days.

Katie and Jim Troccoli also own the Majestic Theatre in Streator.

Before Burke and the Troccolis bought the Will Rogers, located just off of the courthouse square, the building was closed on Nov. 28, 2010, by Kansas City-based AMC Entertainment, which had acquired the cinema in summer 2010.

"We were looking for another theater and this one was further away then we wanted it to be, but I went to visit it and just fell in love," Troccoli said. "It wasn't really a hard decision. It was just about finding the money to get it started."

On Feb. 8, 1938, the Will Rogers opened to a large audience and was furnished with 1,043 seats, in addition to hosting live acts and movies on a 20- by 36-foot stage. The theater was later reduced to two-screens with 667 seats in 1983 and was added to the list of Illinois' 10 most endangered historic places in 2010, according to Rick Riccio, who has been researching the history of the Will Rogers for the documentary.

On opening night at the theater in 1938, an all-woman band called Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears performed three live acts and Charleston resident Elaine Bousha Ooley was there to see it all.

Bousha Ooley was 23 years old when she sat in the front row on that glorious opening night to see the all-girl band, she recalls, and from that day on Bousha Ooley said she started frequenting the theater every weekend for as long as she can remember.

The now 99 years old, Bousha Ooley was on hand Wednesday afternoon to share her stories of the beloved theater for the Riccios' future documentary.

"I had never been in a fancy theater before and when I went into it for the first time it was so elegant — it was an example of wealth," Bousha Ooley said. "You felt privileged to come to such a magnificent place to watch a show for 10 cents."

Although she can't remember the shows she has seen throughout her years attending the Will Rogers Theatre, Bousha Ooley did say she is pretty sure she has seen every live show that the theater had to offer.

"The only entertainment I had was to come to the shows because I worked all the time and we didn't have that much money," Bousha Ooley said. "At the time the theater offered a chance to be involved in the world."

Bousha Ooley, who lived off of Monroe Avenue, growing up in the heart of Charleston, would walk to the theater every weekend and said she was devastated when it shut down.

"I cried when I saw it going into the pot," Bousha Ooley said. "I was sad because it was another historic place closing."

When Bousha Ooley was asked by the Riccios to be in their kick-start campaign for the documentary, she said she happily obliged because she believes in the future of the theater.

"There is so much gothic architecture in this building and it should be preserved," Bousha Ooley said. "Shutting down the Will Rogers is like shutting down Eastern Illinois University. By shutting down the theater you're losing that education, architecture and a place for young people to go."

Rick and Nick Riccio said they plan to release their kick-start campaign video on the Will Rogers Theatre before the end of the year.

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Source: Mattoon Journal-Gazette and (Charleston) Times-Courier, http://bit.ly/16G950P

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Information from: Mattoon Journal-Gazette, http://www.jg-tc.com

This is an Illinois Exchange story shared by the Mattoon Journal-Gazette and (Charleston) Times-Courier.