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SPRING 2017 / 19
Glenny Brock ’99
BSC adjunct professor of English and
volunteer coordinator for the restoration of
the Lyric Theatre
The Lyric was built in 1914 as a Vaudeville palace,
but sat empty and decaying for decades. Brock
helped lead a $11.5-million fundraising campaign
and extensive restorations, leading to the theatre’s
reopening last year 102 years after its debut.
“Birmingham has been called ‘the city of perpetual
promise.’ Implicit in that moniker is the sad reality
of decade after decade during which the potential
lay latent. As proud as I am of recent progress, I
resist too much self-congratulation. I want to be
as clear-eyed as I am joyful. Continued momentum
depends on objective assessment of the present
conditions. We’ve still got a lot to do.”