What I Would Do With Anderson's State Theater (part 1), 7-28-2010

 [Boy, I had time on my hands and too many thoughts in my head. This one is way too long, so I have split it into two parts. sch 2/18/23]

Some whimsy after much serious thinking. It does draw out a subject I meant to write on over a year ago. The owners of Anderson's State Theater got 13th Street changed back to a two-way street almost 3 years ago, and did nothing. I met a fellow detainee who tells me that just disappeared. I had to get arrested, put in an Indianapolis facility, and talk to a fellow from Muncie to learn the status of an Anderson theater – so much for the Anderson Herald Bulletin.

I should explain the State Theater a bit. It is one of two old time movie theaters in Anderson, Indiana. (The other being the Paramount Theater). The place has an actual stage as well as a screen, and a balcony. I think the last movie I saw there was the penultimate New Generation Star Trek movie (my memory fails at the title).

So I got kicking around what I would do in 12 years if I owned the place. Okay, I assume the general fitness and stability of the building, but what really seems a stumbling block is whether there will still be films in 2022. I do think people will still want to get out of the house regardless of TV development – my ex-wife's youngest son stands proof of this idea.

First, promote the place better than they do The Paramount, or the mall's movie complex. Get a Facebook page and a Twitter account and use them. Team up with the surrounding restaurants and bars. Work the dinner and a movie theme hard. Use Twitter to promote the tie-ins. [I omit two of the three restaurnats I used as examples - time has done away with them, sch 2/18/23.] 

Second, do more than movies. Will there still be rock bands in 2022? (Do not laugh – Mick Jagger turned 67 the week of my writing this, and that will make him 79 in 2022). The long defunct Muncie club, The Office Lounge, had poetry readings on Monday nights, and they worked out well. Why not have an open mic nights for poetry, comedy, music?

I know there used to be an Indianapolis Blues Society. Why not work with them to bring blues musicians to Anderson? People in Anderson will not believe that people would travel from Indianapolis, but those Anderson people would be wrong. People will come to Anderson, if there is something worth coming for, and that something is properly promoted. Anderson generally fails on the “properly promoted” part. Blues music will get people to travel.

What about the movies? I am thinking of three categories: 

1. second run shows;
2. classic movies; and 
3. speciality shows like a foreign film or a documentary
   

Do double billings – pair a second run movie with a classic move, or a foreign movie. How long since there were double features? The 1970s?

The classic movies interest me more. Promote this along with Indiana film groups, Twitter, and Facebook. Remember, give people a reason for traveling and promote it!

sch

[Continued in What I Would Do With Anderson's State Theater (part 2), 7-28-2010. sch 2/18/23]