Coming soon
Red River prepares for October opening

The Hippo
September 13, 2007
By Heidi Masek

After much, much ado, Red River Theatres is set to open in October.
The volunteer organization has been holding film events around Concord for about six years including a visit and screenings with Night of the Living Dead filmmaker, George A. Romero at the Capitol Center for the Arts.

In the meantime, Red River has worked to create a permanent home for a nonprofit movie theater. The final product is set to open in mid October in the new Capital Commons building at the corner of South Main and Pleasant streets. (That public/private project is a story in itself.)

Red River will have three theaters in the basement of the building, and the interior was about 85 percent complete in the first week of September, said executive director Robbi Farschman. They had another setback because they had to allow for another tenant’s construction.

Red River now has a part-time business manager, Karen Weston, and a part-time marketing director, Allyson Brehm. The three projectionists include Sarah Noel and local film guru (and one of the catalysts for the project) Cinema 93 owner Barry Steelman. Red River is also planning to hire part-time concession and box office staff, and recruit volunteer ushers.

What is a nonprofit movie theater? Red River received advice and support from similar ventures in Montpelier, Vt., and the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass. Coolidge partners with an independent bookstore to host writers and presents a jazz film series with WGBH, provides teen programs and presents film to underserved communities.

“Certainly anyone involved in running a nonprofit is devoted to that mission for cultural, educational, or artistic reasons, whereas if you own a private movie theater, you need to obviously be concerned about selling tickets, selling concessions,” Red River chair Emily Rice said last year.

Red River is contracting with Adam Birnbaum, program director for the Avon Theatre in Connecticut, as a film buyer.

“He really has his finger on the pulse in New York,” Farschman said. Although Red River won’t be able to get first runs of limited release films, that’s not a bad thing, she said: if something does poorly in the major markets, Red River will know not to book it.

Farschman will work with the Red River board to book special events with visits from filmmakers. Right now she’s working on hosting a screening of The Sensation of Sight, which was filmed in Peterborough.

Normally, films will run for at least a week in the two main theaters. Initially, Red River is booking films that didn’t make it past Boston, such as Waitress, possibly for just a few days each.

The theater will be open seven days per week, with two show times on weeknights, the first between 5 and 6 p.m., the second about two hours later. There will be five show times on Saturdays and four on Sundays, with matinées and later times. Because the theater is independent, its managers are free to change the schedule as they learn what demand requires, Farschman said. She plans to run one matinée during the week, and can add weekday matinées for the summer as needed. Red River plans to partner with schools to create programming, Farshman said.

Red River will sell the traditional candy, popcorn and soda. They’ll be making sandwiches with fresh bread from Bread and Chocolate of Concord, and are trying to get a wine and beer license, Farschman said.

Red River has a fundraising goal of $1.3 million to cover current costs. They need to raise about $215,000 more, and will be starting a membership campaign soon. The bottom-level membership of $60 for adult individuals comes with a benefit of $1 off each ticket. Tickets will cost $8 in the evening, or $6 for seniors or students. The matinée price is $5 for everyone. The top of the six membership levels is the “Executive” $5,000 level, which allows four people free admission all year.
The main theaters seat 175 and 135 people, while the smaller theater seats 48. Red River is expected to be one of the main venues for the Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival in November.

Farschman reccomends signing up for the “Flick Flash” e-mail newsletter at redrivertheatres.org, which will alert readers about the films and events scheduled at Red River each week.

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