The Flying Monkey, a performing arts venue that has anchored Plymouth’s downtown for 15 years, is changing hands.
The former vaudeville theater, resurrected in 2010 by the owner of The Common Man restaurants, has been donated to the nonprofit Pemi-Valley Habitat for Humanity. In a statement, the group says it plans to continue hosting commercial acts as well as “new community-focused events that could range from dance classes to an adult learning series to community gatherings.”
“We had a fun ride bringing this venue back to life,” said Common Man CEO Sean Brown in a statement. “It’s time to usher in a new era for this historic theater, one that will keep downtown vibrant but also do good for members of our community by producing housing opportunities.”
The venue on Main Street was built as the New Plymouth Theater in 1928, holding vaudeville shows and silent films. In the 1980s, it was divided into two screening rooms for movies, but later, it shut down and sat empty for years.
In 2009, Alex Ray, founder of the Common Man restaurants, bought the building. After a year of renovations, it reopened in its original form with 476 seats, almost half at tables. It launched with a blues-rock show followed by a local Shakespeare production, and hundreds of shows have been held there since.
The venue is credited with helping revitalize Plymouth’s downtown.
That name, Flying Monkey, comes from the evil henchmen — more accurately, hench-primates — in “The Wizard of Oz.” Ray chose the name because he had played one in a community production of the show, according to reporting in the Laconia Daily Sun.
Pemi-Valley Habitat for Humanity is a 35-year-old nonprofit that helps people obtain homes who wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It builds and sell affordable houses in 27 towns in and around the Pemigewasset Valley and the Lakes Region.
