Lights! Fund-Raising! Renovation!

The last time Dayna Pettit saw a film at the Balboa Theater, it was a midnight run of the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” about five years ago. Shortly afterward, the historic movie house closed.

The lights will be on again Sunday, however, when the Balboa Performing Arts Theatre Foundation throws a bash for about 500 guests in the hope of stirring interest--and raising money--to reopen the theater, a Balboa Peninsula landmark since 1927.

“This is important because it’s part of our heritage,” Pettit said this week at the theater, which has been stripped inside to reveal the orchestra pit and brick walls from its vaudeville days.

“This is history, and a community needs history to give it roots,” she said, pointing above the wings where the foundation plans to add balcony seats.

Pettit and members of the foundation, a volunteer group formed to restore the theater, hope to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to help its new owner, businessman John Wortmann, turn the building into a hub of cultural activity.

Wortmann and foundation members estimate that they will need $1 million to restore the building at 707 E. Balboa Blvd. The boosters hope to replace the theater’s vintage projector and install a contemporary sound system. If all goes well, Pettit said, the cinema would reopen by September.

Wortmann has been stripping the building’s Art Deco facade to reveal its original Spanish colonial architecture and has uncovered windows overlooking the boulevard.

Foundation members will operate the theater, leasing it from Wortmann and his siblings through the company CJW Inc., Pettit said. The plan is to offer children’s theater, music concerts, opera and revival films.

Pettit said the venue will also be available for amateur performing groups and high school drama department productions.

The theater was built on the site of the Rendezvous Ballroom, which had been destroyed by fire. First called the Ritz Theater, the cinema was renamed the Balboa in 1939.

Known as a “date theater” in the 1960s, the Balboa was a popular venue, said Mary Ann Miller, the foundation’s fund-raising director. “There are many people who had their first kiss in here,” she said. “What memories that have come out of here.”

But attendance decreased in the 1970s, Pettit said, and the Balboa became part of the Pussycat Theaters chain, which showed adult films.

The theater then became a revival movie house featuring classic and cult films such as “Reefer Madness” and “Casablanca.” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” then became a midnight staple until the theater closed in 1992.

Tickets for Sunday’s 6-to-9 p.m. fund-raiser are $25. The event will begin at the Balboa Mural parking lot, 600 E. Balboa Blvd. Theater tours are scheduled during the evening.

Information: (714) 673-0895.