Five years after a community campaign raised more than $1 million to renovate and reopen the Capawock and Strand, the two historic movie houses are without tenants again.
The opening photograph in West Tisbury resident Max Skjöldebrand’s book of photography A Tale of Two Theaters, shows the Strand Theatre in drabby disrepair.
The scene at the opening gala on Friday night was in many respects back to the way it used to be: a crowd filling the seats, popcorn popping in the lobby and a film on the big screen. The Capawock opens to the public Saturday evening.
A newly renovated Capawock theatre in Vineyard Haven is quickly taking shape, and on Monday afternoon, the front doors were wide open and the occasional visitor wandered in. An opening gala is set for May 29. It's the same story at the Strand in Oak Bluffs, with an opening planned for June 19.
One agreement is signed and a second set to be finished that will allow two historic Vineyard movie theatres to reopen for the summer season, organizers say.
A campaign to revive two historic movie theatres has raised more than a third of its $1 million goal. Mark Snider, who created a nonprofit to renovate and lease the Strand and Capawock cinemas, said he has collected $350,000 in pledges in one week.
Mark Snider, owner of the Winnetu Oceanside Resort and the founder of a new nonprofit, is finalizing an agreement with Benjamin Hall Jr. to lease the Capawock and Strand theatres for 10 years, and reopen them beginning this summer.
