WAYNE, Neb. -- When the Twin Theater closed in April 2008, many Wayne residents knew they'd miss having a movie theater in town.

With the nearest movie theaters 40 miles away in Sioux City and Norfolk, middle school-aged kids could no longer ride their bikes downtown for safe entertainment.

Senior citizens missed the monthly coffee, rolls and matinee offered to them.

No more college night for Wayne State College students.

But rather than sit around and complain, the folks in Wayne did what so many people in communities across Siouxland do when faced with a challenge: They decided to do something about it.

Thus was born Project Majestic, Wayne's campaign to renovate and reopen the movie theater. From the beginning, it's been a community-wide project. The Wayne Area Economic Development Corp. bought the building in July, and volunteers started gutting the two-screen theater a month later.

"This is about a community coming together as much as it is a committee coming together," said Stephanie Liska, a member of the steering committee that's overseeing the project.

Initially, fellow steering committee member Reggie Yates said, plans were to clean up the theater, maybe give it some fresh paint, and reopen it. But people decided, no, they'd still be left with the same old theater with the same old seats and the same dirty floor.

So the committee decided that the 50-year-old building's interior would get a complete makeover. The theater will be handicapped-accessible and seat about 100 people in front of a single screen. Moviegoers will be treated to the latest in digital projection and sound. The seats will have cup holders -- the one feature nearly everyone has asked about, Yates said.

However, the theater will be more than just a place to go see movies. A stage at the front of the theater will give Wayne's community theater a place to perform. Piano teachers have already asked about having recitals there. A catering kitchen will allow the theater to accommodate private parties.

"We're taking it beyond a movie theater," Liska said.

It truly will be a building that benefits the whole community, and it will be run by volunteers. Already, community groups are lining up to take turns running concessions and taking tickets once the theater is up and running. Any group that volunteers gets to keep a percentage of the sales.

"Coming to the theater in Wayne in the future will mean you're donating to a volunteer organization," Liska said.

A corporate fund-raising campaign is under way, and a public campaign will start soon. The steering committee hopes that by January it will have raised through grants and donations the $500,000 estimated to complete the project.

Given the interest so far, Liska and Yates have no doubt that the fund-raising goal will be met and the theater can open in the fall of 2010.

"Wayne steps up," Liska said.

And soon residents here will be stepping into a like-new theater that many of them had a hand in bringing back to life.