For decades the Temple was Lee County's principal seat of entertainment. Its location half a block from the rail station made it a natural stop on the vaudeville circuits, then a destination for 1930s touring road shows and burlesque, and finally a movie house. By the 1960s the Sanford Little Theatre and the Footlight Players were still mounting community productions on its stage, but the building was tired and television was winning. The Temple closed in 1965. For sixteen years the great brick box sat dark while vandals worked through what the bottler's money had built, and Sanford got used to driving past a downtown that no longer lit up at night.

Rescue came from the family that built it. In 1981 Robert Ingram, Jr. deeded the vandalized shell to the citizens of Lee County, a gift that gave the rescue effort something to work with. Sam Bass shepherded the building onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, which unlocked a challenge grant from the North Carolina Legislature. Lee County citizens and businesses matched it, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation added a significant gift, and the Temple was gutted and rebuilt around the comfort of both patrons and performers. It reopened in 1984 under director Kathy DeNobriga with Chicago. Individual tickets cost three and four dollars. A four-show season pass cost twelve.

The community-theatre era ended faster than anyone expected. By 1987 the Temple was producing three fully paid summer shows. By 1989 it was signing Actors' Equity contracts. In the spring of 1990 the board accepted a budget that paid actors during the regular season, which effectively retired the volunteer model. The seating was reconfigured down to 299 to fit a special Equity contract, the orchestra pit got a removable cover so the stage could grow, and the sound booth eventually pushed out over the audience from the balcony when the rear-mounted equipment proved unsatisfactory. Six main-stage productions a year now run three weeks apiece, with actors brought in from across the country.

The interior tells the story the most clearly. The original hexagonal-tile floor still runs through the lobby, painted walls and wooden trim flanking it, a crystal chandelier hanging above. Twin staircases sweep up to a balcony where the restored painted tin ceiling shows best - the same ceiling that gives the room acoustics good enough to make a microphone optional. Original capacity was 500, reduced to 334 in the 1980s renovation. Backstage, the actors got dressing rooms, a kitchen, and a lounge to replace the single basement bathroom the 1925 cast shared. The marquee letters are copper now, made by metal workers at King Roofing in 2000 from a galvanized original that Tim Morrissey found rummaging in the underground part of the theatre.

The list of names the Temple's stage has held is unreasonable for a town this size. Count Basie and the Glenn Miller Band. The Kingston Trio. The Red Clay Ramblers and the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Mark Wills, The Embers, and Nantucket. As a Comedy Zone venue it has hosted Jimmie Walker, Carlos Mencia, Jon Reep, James Gregory, and Pauly Shore. Roughly 40,000 people pass through each year, drawn from the Research Triangle, the Piedmont Triad, and the Sandhills. Six student conservatories run alongside the main season, a Teen Ensemble travels the area with holiday sets, and Rising Stars puts four-year-olds on stage after four weeks of rehearsal. The bottler's gift to a town of 3,500 still does the work.