Even as some private movie theaters get prepared to reopen, Red River Theatres will probably stay dark all summer as it, like all non-profits and businesses, struggles in the face of the pandemic.
“We are planning on opening but we’re really at the mercy of the film distributors. There are no first-run films coming out until around Labor Day,” said Angie Lane, executive director of the three-screen theater on South Main Street.
The theater, which had a pre-pandemic annual budget of “around a million dollars,” recently laid off its membership coordinator and events manager to reduce costs, leaving Lane as the only full-time employee.
“We’re looking at the financial viability of doing ‘one-offs,’ a special screening of older films,” Lane said. The board of directors has a committee, she said, “to look at all these numbers to make sure if we do those, it is financially viable.”
Since it closed March 17, the theater has run various online programs, including joining a national program by art-house theaters presenting new films for rental through “virtual cinema” listings. These have produced relatively little income, however.
Lane said the organization had received help through the federal Paycheck Protection Program and was applying for other grants and loans.
“We’re like every other arts organization. I look at other arts organizations knowing some might die … it’s sobering. …. This is a long game. We’re in it for the long haul. We’re not going anywhere,” she said.
Much of the decision process involves whether the cinema can operate in the black under pandemic conditions – a question that also faces for-profit businesses.
Under current state guidelines, its audience size would be limited to 50% of capacity, which makes it harder to pay film-distribution fees. Then there’s the question of whether audiences will even show up.
Red River, like many arts groups, has an older audience and that demographic is more susceptible to COVID-19 and thus may be leery about attending indoor events.
Lane said the Capital Center for the Arts and the Concord Community Music School have surveyed people about whether and when they would be comfortable returning. Indications are that “people are going to wait and see,” said Lane.
If Red River does open, she said, it will probably be on a limited basis, a few days a week, to judge audience reaction.
Red River rents its space in the basement of the Capital Commons building. Lane said the owners, Michael and Jamie Simchik, “have been great” but she added, “they’re also a business, they also have bills to pay, so those conversations are going on.”
Red River Theatres opened in October 2007, after a 7-year community effort and a $1.8 million capital campaign. Over the years it has hosted a mix of first-run and independent films, including many New Hampshire premieres. Its three theaters of various sizes have hosted numerous public events with filmmakers ranging from high school students to Ken Burns.
Its opening was considered an important part of redefining Concord’s downtown, bringing a movie theater back to Main Street after the departure the Concord Theater, which showed movies on Main Street from 1933 until 1994.
“We are a non-profit but we are a business and an economic driver. … Like other arts organizations we’re drawing people in the city, to live, to spend money,” Lane said, adding that Concord needs to support arts group as it reinvents itself in the COVID-19 era. “We’re a key to that, a key to recovery.”
Red River Theatres is named after a 1948 Western starring John Wayne, in which the lead characters undertake a nearly impossible journey that proves successful in the end.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
