NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The curtain is closing on an era at the Richey Suncoast Theatre. After 22 years with the theater, Executive Director Marie Skelton plans to retire at the end of the current season.

"It was a very difficult choice, but one I needed to make because of my health," said Skelton, who is moving west to a drier climate.

Skelton and her husband, Charlie, worked in theater for years -- she as a choreographer and he as an actor. It was an old theater connection that first encouraged them to get involved with the Richey Suncoast.

"Charlie and I had taken a look at it and said, 'Gosh, this is a diamond in the rough,'" Skelton remembered.

Built in 1920, the theater started out as a silent movie house. It closed for a time, reopened as a movie theater, and then evolved into a live theater.

Skelton said the first performance she saw there was unlike any she experienced before.

"All of a sudden, all these umbrellas went up -- the patrons that were sitting in the seats," she said. "I went, 'What are they doing?' Well, it was raining, and the roof leaked, so they put their umbrellas up so they could watch the show."

Turning the place around

But a leaking roof was just one of the theater's issues.

"The place was old and dilapidated. There was no heat, no air conditioner," Skelton said. "When we came in, it was just about near bankruptcy, but we had a wonderful group of people here -- volunteers that gave of their time -- and with Charlie and I at the helm, so to speak, we were able to turn it around."

Today, the Richey Suncoast Theatre is home to community theater and musical performances. 

When Charlie Skelton died in 2012, Marie Skelton continued to lead the theater as executive director, a role she first took on in 1997. She said once she retires, she'll stay on as an advisor at the board of directors' request.

"I am very happy for its future," Skelton said of the theater. "We have a lot of younger people that are involved that can carry the torch."

Skelton said the board is expected to announce her successor in the near future. While her departure is bittersweet, she said she's grateful for all that her years with the Richey Suncoast Theatre have brought her.

"I have a family. I have such a huge family, and even though I may be moving, I know that I can reach out to any of them and say, 'Help', and they would be there," she said.

Skelton said she hopes the community -- both patrons and volunteers -- continue to support the theater in the years to come.