Last screening at 3:45pm Thurs
Starring Robert DuVall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray
For advance tickets visit www.movietickets.com
MORE
First performance Live from Royal Opera House
Cosi Fan Tutte
Friday September 10th 2:00PM
Sunday September 12th 11:00AM prerecorded
MORE
Sept 9th 8:30pm
See new release Leonard Cohen on our screen before the dvd is available for sale. SONGS FROM THE ROAD, a dozen of Cohen’s most famous songs from that world tour, the best of Cohen’s performances at auditoriums, arenas, and stadiums from Tel Aviv to London
MORE
Special screenings of
BEHIND THE HEDGEROW
a look inside the private world of aristocratic Newport
September 7th-September 16th limited showtimes
HELD OVER FOR ANOTHER WEEK UNTIL SEPTEMBER 16TH. Filmmaker David Bettencourt will be at the theater for q and a on September 8th.
Admission $10, members $6
MORE
|
|
Join our very first mailing list so that we can keep you informed about what is happening at the Jane Pickens Theater.
|
|
 |
 |
EXPANDED STAGE-COMING SOON LIVE PERFORMANCES
The Jane Pickens Theater is poised to become Washington Square’s first live performance center, unveiling an expanded stage in the next 10 days.
NEWPORT - The Jane Pickens Theater is poised to become Washington Square's first live performance center, unveiling an expanded stage in the next 10 days.
The movie house on Touro Street will continue to show films, but owner Kathy Staab plans to add live performances. R & R Construction of Newport is doubling the length of the stage, which currently extends seven feet from the movie screen, and improving the lighting.
"This gives us more opportunities to bring in people with a variety of events," Staab said.
She is working with Salve Regina's Student Activities Committee, which is picking up some of the costs in exchange for rental breaks, she said. "We did an event with them last year, which went very well," Staab said.
Groups wanting to put on events will be able to rent the theater and its expanded stage. The first event will be a benefit concert on Sunday, Sept. 3 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that will feature Rhode Island singers Garry Foisy, Jennifer Minuto and Becky Chace. Tickets are $20, seating is general admission and the doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Down the street, the Opera House still plans to expand to become the Newport Performing Arts Center, a full-fledged live theater site, in the next few years. An organizing committee purchased the building for $1 million and spent another $500,000 renovating the facade.
Dominique Alfandre heads the group and said it needs to enter a second phase, raising money to renovate the theater's interior. "We want to raise money and set up an endowment so we won't always have to keep fundraising," she said.
The Opera House has a lease with Boston Concessions of Cambridge, Mass., to continue as a movie house until 2007. Ideally, the Newport Performing Arts Center would open in 2008, Alfandre said, after the movie operations end.
Staab said she is not trying to upstage the Opera House group. "I know I sound like a cheerleader, but more people we have coming into Washington Square benefits everyone," she said.
Alfandre agreed, saying the two theaters may end up serving similar and different customers, particularly since the Pickens will remain primarily a movie theater.
"I believe the more the merrier," Alfandre said. "I think the more attractions you have in Washington Square, it will become a central part of downtown. You'll have restaurants, theaters and historic locations. I think if Newport gets a reputation for live performances, all the venues benefit."
Two years ago, Staab bought the Jane Pickens from the family of the late Joseph Jarvis, who owned the theater from 1975 until his death in 2003. With an extensive background in retail marketing, Staab started looking for ways to draw people to the theater - beyond showing movies.
She rents the 550-seat theater for business meetings, birthday parties, cocktail parties and other gatherings. A wedding is planned there on Oct. 14.
Staab's done well with summertime weekend screenings of "The Great Gatsby" (filmed here in 1973) followed by a mansion tour. Two weeks ago, she screened "High Society" to celebrate the Newport visit of Prince Albert II of Monaco, whose late mother, Grace Kelly, co-starred in the 1956 movie.
Overall, business is healthy, Staab said. May and June were good months, but July was slow and August shows promise. "I know the tourism numbers are down," she said. "And we do a lot with tourism. July was rough, whether it was the gas prices or whatever. But things in general are good."
The new stage, she said, will be a boost to First Night Newport. In the past, director Charles Roberts has paid to bring in a larger portable stage to accommodate musical groups and dancers. "Now he'll be able to give more of the proceeds to charity," Staab said.
Meanwhile, she has lined up an event with the Island Moving Co., presenting a screening of the film "Ballets Russes" on Thursday, Sept. 21. The local dance troupe's executive director? Dominique Alfandre.
By James J. Gillis/Daily News staff
|
|
