INDIAN HEAD – At 110 years of age, the Nite Hawk Theatre is getting a new lease – and mortgage – on life.
“So, now, it means that the theatre will be community-owned, and community-run,” said Bruce Neill who chairs Indian Head Theatre and Community Arts Inc.
The current owner, Helene Stewart, has run the theatre for two decades and is now retiring. She says she’s had offers to redevelop the land but is confident she’s leaving it to a better fate.
Nearly two hundred and forty donations later, residents of Indian Head, a town of less than 2,000 people, have saved their only movie theatre.
The new business plan includes around $90,000 in donations, and a loan for building upgrades, including a pricey conversion from film to digital projection.
The loan adds a price bump to $8 (from $6) for an adult ticket – “That’s a lot less than what you’d pay in the cities, and we have great popcorn,” said Neill with a laugh.
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The theatre was purchased for $150,000.
Neill wants to see the theatre, which changes ownership February 14, earn heritage designation to help ensure its future, something Indian Head’s Mayor Sherry Karpa say she wants as well.
The theatre has played its share of movie remakes, sequels, and prequels over the years; its future, to use a movie analogy, is a prequel/sequel mix.
“Probably in its first 30 years of life was basically for live performance, whether it was operas, operettas, vaudeville, things like that,” said Neill, adding that he intends to use the space for similar purposes along with movie screenings.
On stage or on screen, the aim is to keep the curtains up for generations to come. For Neill, protecting the history of the building is an major reason why he headed the campaign.
“It’s really embedded in the memories of generations of people here,” he said. “My daughter tells me it was the first place where a boy held her hand while she watched a movie.”
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