The Key City Theatre is looking to the future as they celebrate the past 20 years.

Patrick LeBlanc, theatre manager and his staff are planning a Gala Anniversary event on February 18 to celebrate 20 years of great entertainment in the 600-seat theatre. The evening will be a mix of community members and professional performers.

"When planning the 20th, we wanted it to be a mix of community and professional," LeBlanc said. "You can't bring in everybody. We wanted it to be a good professional show."

Headlining the gala evening will be Paul Oulette and Leon Leontaridis. They will be joined by the Kimberley Dance Academy, Banff composer/pianist William Cunningham and Jazz Council pianist Tim Plait.

"You gotta have a good opening dance gala for your show," LeBlanc said.

Oulette and Leontaridis have been favourites at the Key City Theatre, and are welcomed back once more. Both are former members of the Canadian Tenors and the pop-opera band Destino.

"Our audiences fall in love with them," LeBlanc said.

Plait will accompany Oulette on the piano, which will fuse incredible local talent with Oulette's classical, pop, rock and gospel mix.

The evening will feature a blast from the past, as former theatre manager Paul Haywood takes over as MC. Haywood is now a theatre manager in Medicine Hat.

"We know it's going to be a really terrific evening," LeBlanc said. "We really wanted to work with the community and do something big - because we have a big stage."

LeBlanc started in the manager's chair three years ago, and was surprised to arrive in Cranbrook and discover the incredible theatre facility.

"It blew my socks off," he said.

LeBlanc said he is surprised what the staff manages to pull off with only three full-time positions in the office, a part-time box office staff member and one and a half tech positions. The theatre also struggles year after year to get all the funding it need to keep the doors open, but somehow everything always falls into place.

"Sometimes it surprises me that we've survived 20 years with how little funding we have." With that said, LeBlanc continues that the theatre is actually doing quite well when compared to others in the province.

"We are one of the few theatres in the province that are in a good financial place," he said. "Funding is a challenge, but we're in a good position."

Not only that, the theatre manages to pull off about 140 productions a year with only three full-time office staff members. LeBlanc said that some theatres do less shows with more staff.

"I think we're a little crazy," he laughs.

To help make everything goes off without a hitch, the Key City relies on its army of 90 volunteers.

"We couldn't do this without the volunteers," LeBlanc said. "The list of jobs that they do just goes on."

Another thing the theatre struggles with, is that the needs of performers 20 years ago, aren't always what is needed now. Some of the physical amenities of the theatre could be changed to better suit performances in 2012.

"It's still great - but there are a lot of things that were missed," LeBlanc said.

The changes LeBlanc speaks of could very well become a reality if the Mt. Baker Secondary School replacement goes ahead.

"We're connected," LeBlanc said of the theatre and the school. Much of the Key City's electrical and other hardware is housed in the high school. LeBlanc said that if the school goes, the theatre could too.

There is the issue of aging theatre equipment to tackle as well. LeBlanc said they replace what they can when they can, and apply for grants to cover the loss of gaming grant funds they used to receive.

LeBlanc said it has taken every contribution of the volunteers, board members and staff over the many years the theatre has been running, to get to where they are today.

"We're solid - that's just due to 20 years of hard work."