Tampa Theatre has received the largest private gift from an individual in its 100-year history, a donation from Tara Ruberg in support of the nonprofit’s $30 million Second Century Campaign. In recognition of the gift, the theater’s starry night sky ceiling above the Duncan Auditorium will be named the Tara & David Ruberg Night Sky.
Architect John Eberson designed the ceiling as part of the atmospheric theater style he pioneered in the 1920s. Eberson designed the auditorium to evoke an outdoor courtyard beneath a twinkling night sky, an original feature of the theater when it opened in 1926.
Construction is underway on the restoration of the historic auditorium and the addition of 3,000 square feet of dedicated education space, part of Tampa Theatre’s campaign to restore, modernize and expand the building.
“She sees this theatre the way we do: as something worth carrying into its next hundred years,” Devin Dominguez, Tampa Theatre’s vice president and director of development, said in announcing the gift.
Additional campaign projects include upgrades to the stage and backstage areas to improve ADA accessibility for performers, employees and volunteers and a full restoration of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ, an original feature dating to Tampa Theatre’s days as a silent movie palace.
Tampa Theatre also plans to convert second-floor office space above its historic marquee into The Peacock Room, a lounge intended for gatherings before and after films and for special events. The theater has not disclosed individual project costs or said whether the new space is expected to generate additional event or hospitality revenue.
The building is owned by the City of Tampa and operated by the nonprofit Tampa Theatre Foundation as a film and cultural center. The theater’s announcement did not specify how the $30 million campaign is divided between private philanthropy and public funding or how much of the campaign remains to be raised.
Ruberg’s gift gives Tampa Theatre its largest individual donor contribution since the theater opened a century ago and places Tara and David Ruberg’s names on one of the building’s defining architectural features. The naming comes as the theater continues work on the auditorium and education space and prepares for the accessibility, organ restoration and second-floor projects that remain part of the Second Century Campaign.