Celebrating Dolly

Celebrating Dolly 

Celebrate the remarkable career, generosity and lasting impact of one of America’s most beloved entertainers with screenings of Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, September 2-14. Tickets are just $8 and all proceeds benefit Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. 

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Dolly has made an extraordinary mark as a singer, songwriter, actress, author, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a 2022 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

But some of her most meaningful work has happened far beyond the stage and screen. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly founded the Imagination Library in 1995 to help children develop a lifelong love of books. What began in her hometown in Tennessee has grown into an international early-literacy program that now mails more than 2.4 million free books every month to children from birth to age five. Research continues to demonstrate the program’s positive impact on early literacy skills and family reading habits.

At Penn Cinema, we believe stories have the power to inspire, whether they’re discovered on a page or experienced on the big screen. Supporting the Imagination Library is a natural extension of our own efforts to encourage reading and help young people discover a lifelong love of storytelling.