After struggling through two pandemic years, the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon closed out 2022 in good shape.

Audiences are returning. There is money in the bank. Membership, which dipped to 482 during the pandemic, is on the rise. Programming and ticket sales look good for 2023.

Pull and Be Damned resident Roger Gietzen is a big factor in the Lincoln's good fortunes. A Lincoln staff member staff since 1999 and executive director since 2015, he has helped lead the theatre, its staff and volunteers through good times and bad.

Gietzen's apprenticeship began in 1997, when the then-co-owne...