MILLERTON — Area moviegoers who have passed by The Moviehouse’s darkened doors this past year and missed the thrill of seeing a movie in Millerton’s long-standing theater won’t need to wait any longer as the theater will at long last open its doors this Memorial Day weekend.
The Moviehouse, 1977 to 2021
The history behind The Moviehouse, located at 48 Main St., is a familiar tale for many residents of the region. Long before it was purchased by its co-founders, the late Robert Sadlon and his widow, Carol, of Lakeville, Conn., in 1977, the building was previously a two-story 1903 historic Grange Hall and a boarded-up, single-screen porno house.
Ardent in their dream of giving patrons an unparalleled movie viewing experience, the Sadlons put their love and labor into turning the theater into a landmark for art, entertainment and culture in the village of Millerton. Almost 44 years later, The Moviehouse offered patrons a diverse showing of performances: the latest blockbusters and independent films, midnight premiere screenings, art exhibitions, National Theater Live productions, opera screenings, the Bolshoi Ballet and select screenings with post-screening discussions.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring, The Moviehouse was forced to close its doors, though Carol Sadlon continued to push forward and offer The Moviehouse experience from a virtual platform. She launched a new streaming service and a virtual “Art Talks” series and started a Movie Club.
After taking stock of her business, she explained in a letter to the community last fall that she recognized the theater’s potential to grow “with an influx of new thoughts and ideas,” but realized she couldn’t do it all by herself. She then began her pursuit of new stewards to carry the theater into the future.
In a story published by The Lakeville Journal this March, The Moviehouse was listed with Select Sotheby’s Realty for $1,195,000; it soon received 11 bids. By mid-February, Sadlon had found her buyers: David Maltby and Chelsea Altman. Partners in life and now in business, Sadlon accepted Maltby and Altman’s offer and soon introduced them as The Moviehouse’s new owners.
Renovating the theater
Expecting to open this Friday, May 28, Maltby and Altman have already made impressive strides to create a smooth movie experience for their audiences, such as updating the theater’s system and revamping the website, www.themoviehouse.net, so that transactions will be easier and save people time.
Altman explained their renovation is working in two stages: the two downstairs theaters will open for screenings on Friday, and then the entire Moviehouse will have an official grand opening on Fourth of July weekend, given the more extensive renovations taking place upstairs.
The renovation work downstairs, Altman said, is more of a “sprucing-up to add a pop of color,” and indeed moviegoers will be dazzled by the bright shades of yellow, blue and red in the theater lobby, thanks to the updated paintwork and new carpeting.
Then, of course, there’s the elevator: A massive renovation piece and a long-desired goal finally realized, painted red and established on the ground floor next to the second theater. The elevator is currently in operation, though customers will have to wait to use it with the other renovations still underway.
Walking up the theater’s steep flight of stairs, what currently resembles a skeletal version of the first floor will soon feature a brand new lounge where people can come and mingle. In place of the theater’s former cafe, there will be two new, larger bathrooms. A bar will soon be installed, carrying tasty snacks, alcoholic beverages and other fun items the theater can handle without needing a full kitchen.
The former café will be renovated into a lounge space while the fourth screening room will house club-like seating, lounge chairs and couches to create a comfortable, fun feel and host any kind of event, said Maltby.
“The idea is to try to generate more of a vibe upstairs where people want to relax before seeing a movie,” Altman said.
The remaining theater on the first floor will be kept the same as will the main two theaters on the ground floor.
“We’re trying to keep the basics of the theater — the four screens — but enhance it and put our spin on it,” Maltby said.
The show must go on
Avid moviegoers might wonder whether Maltby and Altman plan to change the theater model established by the Sadlons.
“Initially, I think my philosophy is to start simple and have the same great programming of films and get our audience’s needs met and then build from there,” Altman said.
She elaborated, noting they want to preserve the opportunities that were previously offered at the theater and then add more packages, such as a horror movie package or a cult classic package. Right now, she said they’re trying to figure out what the community they’re serving likes.
Already, Maltby and Altman have hired their general manager, Casey Lehman, who is now in the process of hiring the theater’s staff — two of whom previously worked at The Moviehouse.
Similar to the Sadlons’ vision, the couple plans to show movies seven days a week, but will close after Memorial Day on Tuesday, June 1, due to the launching and staffing, and then reopen Wednesday, June 2. Tickets can still be bought in the box office, though Altman said they expect most people will buy tickets online and take advantage of reserved seating. After Thursday, July 1, all four screening rooms should be up and running.
Given how frequently COVID-19 guidelines change, they’re planning to open with the existing COVID-19 regulations from two weeks ago: masks on and space between the seats, which will bring their capacity to only 33%. After that, then they’ll continue with that model and see how consumer confidence is as they go along.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
