Take Two: Triplex Cinema Reopens As A Nonprofit, Community-Centered Theater

The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, which closed for a year-and-a-half during the pandemic, never really was able to recapture its former momentum, and last March developer/owner Richard Stanley announced he was going to close the theater if a buyer couldn’t be found. In record time, community members stepped up, created a "Save the Triplex" campaign, formed a nonprofit organization, and raised enough money to open its doors. Two of the four theaters will reopen on November 17, and you can be sure it will be a day of celebration and, for many, great relief.

(Full disclosure: I was the screen ad sales rep for the Triplex for a number of years, my first job after relocating to the Berkshires. I will be forever grateful to Richard Stanley for taking a chance on me.)

It might be hard for anyone who hasn’t lived in a small rural town to understand just how important an independent movie theater is to quality of life. Almost 30 years ago, when developer Stanley built the Triplex Cinema, it became a major catalyst for the renaissance of Great Barrington’s downtown. Since 1995, the theater’s mix of blockbusters, indies and foreign films served the population of residents, second homeowners and tourists, who then populated the nearby restaurants and shops. “It’s the heart space of the community,” Stanley called it, and if the Triplex closed, a part of the town’s heart would stop beating.

The Community Coalesces

By the time of the sell-or-close announcement, there was already a negotiation going on between Stanley and Cinema Lab, a New Jersey-based theater company. When Nicki Wilson, a theater director and playwright, became aware the deal might fall through, she called Stanley and asked what the community could do to keep it open.

“’He said, ‘See if you can raise $500,000.’ I sent out an email to my neighbors on The Hill and invited them to a meeting at my house." She laid out three options: Raise money for Cinema Lab to buy the theater; let it close; or band together, become a nonprofit and raise money, to own the theater outright.

“Everybody unanimously voted for the community to own the theater,” Wilson says. “We who live here know what our community needs better than someone who doesn’t live in the area.” There was so much enthusiasm for the newly formed Save the Triplex group, Cinema Lab left town.

The Triplex now joins with regional theaters like Images Cinema in Williamstown, the Crandell Theater in Chatham, the Moviehouse in Millerton and Bantam Cinema near Litchfield that have been turned into nonprofit, community-based centers for film and culture.

Board of Directors President Nicki Wilson signs the purchase papers with Richard Stanley.

“As a nonprofit, our first mission is the community, making a center where people can come to do other things besides the movies,” says Wilson, who spearheaded the transition and is president of the board. “We will do the curating of films — including blockbusters — but will have one theater designated as a repertory theater offering film classes, documentary and art films, and talkbacks.”

With Ben Elliott as managing director, and an impressive roster of hardworking volunteer board members and advisory committee, The Triplex plans to partner with school systems, other nonprofits like Greenagers and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (which will hold its South County classes at the theater), Friday night movies for teens, and a children’s Saturday morning series.

Money, Money, Money

Wilson and her core group of Triplex cheerleaders filed for nonprofit papers in April and put up a Save the Triplex website to take the donations via a Go Fund Me account.

“Money just started coming in left, right and center, from five dollars to $100,000,” Wilson says, noting that more than a thousand donors contributed. The Jane & Jack Fitzpatrick Trust granted $150,000. The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) donated nearly $69,000 to help pay for renovations and repairs. Renowned photographer Gregory Crewdson sold limited-edition prints of a photograph featuring local actress Lauren Ambrose.to benefit the effort. In August, Save the Triplex hosted a “Bring Back the Movies,” a sold-out event, with live readings of film scenes by local celebrities Karen Allen, Ambrose, Jayne Atkinson, Michel Gill and others. That concept will be repeated with the “Bring Back the Movies: The Holidays” event on Dec. 16, with a mix of films acted out on stage by the actors.

Celebrity actors volunteer to perform at the "Save the Triplex" first fundraiser.

On July 24, the Save the Triplex group signed a deed (set price of $1 million) and became owners of the building plus four tenant spaces. First task was to clean the theater, install new HVAC, fix the safety problems — the theater hadn’t been updated much since it was built. The concessions area will be getting a total face lift, and the lobby is going to be reimagined with chairs and tables in the lobby. There’s still more to do, but Wilson says they don’t want to accrue debt, so they can only do things as the money is raised.

The “soft opening” on Nov. 17 will feature Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” and DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls Band Together.” The intention is to open the third screen in mid December.

Over the weekend, two Great Barrington businesses will be hosting fundraiser for The Triplex. On November 17 at 5 p.m., Scout House and BIFF will present Melissa Newman, the daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who will be speaking and signing copies of her new book, Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman, a Love Affair in Words and Pictures. All proceeds from the books sales will be donated to the Triplex.

On November 19, Prairie Whale will host “Dine to Donate," with 10% of all the restaurant’s proceeds from that evening going to the Triplex.

“Everyone who has wanted this to happen has just pitched in and now, here we are, ready to provide Berkshire County and the surrounding area with the entertainment and community meeting place we all were hoping for,” Wilson says.

It took this village just seven months to organize, incorporate, raise enough funds and improve the mechanicals to reopen the Triplex. The heart space of Great Barrington beats on.