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www.theactiveage.com September 2026 Kansas’ Largest Newspaper Printed at Valley Center, KS
Vol 47 No. 10
Show time again at the Orpheum
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raving about work that artisans have done to restore the original interior. “For the restoration, I know people are most excited for the seats, of course,” executive director Stacee Olden said. “I am most excited about showing off the original atmospheric design of the theater, which consists of the grand proscenium having plaster repair and decorative painting bringing it back to life, the original rare fire curtain that boasts a gorgeous art mural of a couple walking through a courtyard, as well as the twinkling starlight in the sky that will sweep across our ceiling once again.” After 15 months of interior renovations, a grand reopening and 104th In other words, the Orpheum may birthday party for the Orpheum Theatre will be held Sept. 4. not have looked this good since it first opened its doors in 1922. The Active Age include new seating on the main and Theater goers can judge for The Orpheum Theatre is back, and balcony floors, new sound and lighting, themselves this month. The Orpheum this time the venerable venue itself an upgraded HVAC system, renovated will host a Reopening and 104th may steal the show. dressing rooms and modern ADA Anniversary Celebration starting at Wichita’s oldest theater closed its accessibility features. doors in May 2025 to embark on a Those amenities, important as they 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. The event will feature live performances, self-guided 15-month renovation project to fully may be, are not what have Orpheum restore the interior. The improvements backers most excited. Instead, they are See Orpheum, page 7
Artist fascinated by human faces By Joe Stumpe If you possess an interesting face and happen to run into Patti Doll, don’t be surprised if she makes an unusual request. “I’ll stop people on the street if I think I want to do a picture,” Doll said. By picture, she means painting a portrait. “I’ve just been fascinated with portraits forever,” Doll said. An exhibit of portraits by Doll will run from Sept. 4 through Oct. 9 at the Envision Gallery, 535 W. Douglas Ave., Suite 160. It kicks off with a First Friday reception from 4-7 p.m. The 15 portraits feature residents of BelVilla Assisted Living in Andover. Doll’s mother, Rita Crossland, lived at Bel Vista for about eight months before her death in 2017. Doll said she decided to make current residents the
Patti Doll painted portaits of 15 residents of BelVilla Assisted Living in Andover, including this one of Debra Mitchell. See Portraits, page 6
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Wichita optometrist Dr. Patrick Pirotte has taken part in several foreign medical missions.
His vision: better sight for children By Melanie Jenney Usually when a Kansan heads to the Caribbean, it’s for beaches and a deck chair, fancy drinks and lots of sun. Dr. Patrick Pirotte derived an entirely different kind of enjoyment from his trip earlier this year — the satisfaction of bringing better vision to children in the Dominican Republic. Pirotte, a pediatric optometrist in Wichita, was one of six eye doctors from the United States who visited Santiago, the country’s second-largest city, on a weeklong medical mission. Pirotte said the experience “is kind of like ‘MASH,’ the TV series, in that you establish camaraderie quickly in doing the hard work and trying to see as many patients as possible.” The mission was a partnership of Creighton University and the Jesuitaffiliated Centro de Educacion para la Salud Integral (known in English as Mision ILAC), whose campus provides health care to low-income rural communities in the area. “Over the course of five days, we See Vision, page 6
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