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08/03/2007Coming to LifeState Theatre to open year-round in late November
The State Theatre in downtown Traverse City is set to open year-round in November. TRAVERSE CITY — Fans of "just good movies” won't have to wait until next summer to see them again. The Traverse City Film Festival plans to open the State Theatre year-round the week before Thanksgiving— traditionally a blockbuster week for movies. The opening will be celebrated with a "Hollywood premiere” Nov. 17 featuring dinner, a Christmas-release movie and one of the first (short) films to be shown at the then Lyric Theater in 1918, said festival founder Michael Moore. It will be part of a grand opening week that will feature free movies and other events. "There's a lot of people in town then and they have plans to go to movies,” said festival manager Deb Lake. "So it seemed like a nice time for a gala opening.” Moore said it has been the dream of organizers since the festival began two years ago to bring the State Theatre back to life and restore it to its former glory as one of the great movie palaces of the Midwest. That dream became a reality in May when Rotary Charities of Traverse City transferred the theater to the festival. Since then, the festival has made more than $300,000 in improvements to the building, with more to come. Like the festival, she said the theater will be a mostly volunteer-run operation. "We will probably hire a State Theatre manager and the rest we hope will come from volunteers,” she said. "We'll ask volunteers to work one shift a month and we think that will be enough.” The art deco theater had been closed for many years after a checkered past that included two fires and several changes in ownership. In 2005, the film festival invested more than $250,000 in donated materials and labor to spruce up the theater for the festival's inaugural run, with an eye toward eventual ownership. Now festival organizers are asking for help to research the theater's history. ""So if there's anyone that has records in the community, we'd love, love, love to get copies,” Lake said.
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