CATSKILL — The Community Theater in Catskill has reopened for some programming through a partnership with Upstate Films, but it will be sometime before it is restored to its movie palace days.
“We started doing programs in September,” said Paul Sturtz, co-executive Director of Upstate Films in Woodstock. “We’re hoping to do ongoing programming one to three times a month.”
The theater closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now owned by Benjamin Fain of South Front Street Holdings LLC.
Sturtz said that Upstate Films has been trying to show films and host events on a more regular schedule.
“It’s still a little ways away from fully opening, but we’ve been activating the space,” he said.
In January, the Catskill Village Board of Trustees unanimously decided to endorse an application by Fain to secure a Restore NY grant to reconstruct the 19,000-square-foot theater.
“The building is a real jewel, it’s right in the center of town, and I think we can bring it back,” he told the board in January.
Restoration of the theater was estimated to cost $3.7 million, Fain was seeking $1.4 million from the Restore NY program, administered by the Empire State Development Corp. Fain said in January that the rest of the funding would be provided through commitments from US Trust for historic tax credits.
Attempts to reach Fain for updates on the restoration were unsuccessful.
The Community Theatre, known for its iconic marquee, was a haven for vaudeville in the 1920s, performing on a stage 20 feet deep. Reel-to-reel projectors showed silent films on the big screen accompanied by music from a pipe organ and later by small orchestras. At full capacity, the theater can accommodate audiences of 600 people.
The theater was split into two separate rooms in the early 1970s when the former balcony section was closed and a new screen, and new film projectors, were installed. Fain said in January that the Community Theater would remain a two-screen theater.
Upstate Films owns the Orpheum Theater in Saugerties and the Rhinebeck Cinema in Rhinebeck. Tom Thornton of Catskill owned both the Community and Orpheum theaters for many years.