Fans save Totem Pole Playhouse's 2013 season

(Fayetteville) -- It's not curtains for a Franklin County playhouse, thanks to theater fans. 

The Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville announced in August that it had to raise $250,000 by Oct. 1 to save the theater and ensure the 2013 season would go on.

Managing director Sue McMurtray said Wednesday there's $334,000 in the bank, thanks to donors from the Cumberland Valley and beyond.

Since 1950, the Totem Pole helped launch careers of Broadway stars and actors including John Ritter and Jean Stapleton.

But lower revenue and rising costs meant it couldn't stage popular larger productions like ``Camelot'' and ``My Fair Lady.'' 

McMurtray said the funds now will allow the theater to present those kinds of crowd-pleasing shows, and offer a seven-show season for the first time in more than 40 years.