Given the current circumstances surrounding the pandemic, the Capawock and Strand theatres will go dark this summer, said Mark Snider, who heads the foundation that leases the theatres.

“We’re on hold,” Mr. Snider told the Gazette by phone Thursday. “All theatres are closed of course, and even if they are able to reopen there will be limited capacity,” Mr. Snider said. Further, he said the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center is concentrating on its own business and will not be able to operate the smaller theatres this summer as it has been doing. “And Hollywood has delayed all the new releases until fall or put them on television,” Mr. Snider added.

For all these reasons, he said he hopes to see the theatres reopen in 2021.

A Katama hotelier and history buff, Mr. Snider founded the Martha’s Vineyard Theatre Foundation five years ago and undertook a massive fundraising campaign to refurbish and reopen the two historic movie houses, which had fallen into deep disrepair and were shuttered.

The Capawock is in Vineyard Haven and the Strand is in Oak Bluffs.

Both theatres reopened in the summer of 2015 to rave reviews and have been thriving since, showing films and hosting community events.