Great Barrington — It has been almost two years since The Triplex reopened, and the nonprofit organization behind the theater has started a capital campaign in order to complete renovations on the building.
South Egremont resident Richard Stanley previously owned the theater for 28 years.
Back in April 2023, after Stanley closed the theater, several Berkshire County residents formed a grassroots group, Save the Triplex, to purchase the theater with plans to operate as a nonprofit organization. In July 2023, the grassroots group announced that it had raised enough money to purchase the theater from Stanley for $1 million.
After five months of closure for renovations, the theater officially reopened on November 17, 2023.
In the ensuing two years, The Triplex has been one of the hosts of the annual Berkshire International Film Festival, as well as events featuring figures from the Hollywood and independent filmmaking world.
According to Triplex Board President Gail Lansky, however, there are several issues with the Triplex building that still need to be addressed. “We need upgrades to the building because so much of it is tired and old,” she told The Berkshire Edge. “It was imperative that, once we took ownership of the theater, we opened as soon as we could. We did what we could to get the doors open, the films shown, and to start programming so we could have a revenue stream.”
Lansky explained that because the organization moved quickly to reopen the theater, “we didn’t do a lot of structural renovations, but instead we did a lot of aesthetic renovations.”
Lansky said despite the theater’s success since reopening as a nonprofit, the organization is still facing challenges with its building. “The over-30-year-old building has a wide range of deferred-maintenance issues,” she said. “We have an over-30-year-old HVAC system in the building. Typically, an HVAC system has a 25-year lifespan. An HVAC system is not something where you can just go down to Home Depot and tell an employee, ‘Hey, let’s buy a new HVAC system for a movie theater.’”
Lansky said that since the nonprofit organization took over The Triplex, the organization has done its best in troubleshooting various maintenance issues with its HVAC system. “Summertime is the hardest, because we have to run the air conditioning constantly,” she said. “It’s crucial that we keep the projection booth cool as we show the movie. There is a lot of equipment in the booth, and that equipment, including the projection lights, all gets hot.”
Lansky said that there are concerns that the current HVAC system will eventually break down for good. “We have been troubleshooting any time there is an issue, and we maintain it as often as needed,” she said. “But we are concerned because it has exceeded its lifespan.”
Lansy said a new HVAC system would cost approximately $363,000. “But that estimate is just for the system itself,” she said. “There are also going to be labor costs to install a new system, and dumping fees to get rid of the old system.”
Lansky said the organization also wants to reopen its Theater Two, which is the building’s second-largest screening room. “It needs pretty much everything for it to be reopened,” she said. “It needs a new screen, new sound system, new seats, and new lighting.”
The organization estimates that once Theater Two is open, The Triplex will be able to show four first-run films simultaneously, with audience capacity and programming flexibility increasing by 25 percent.
“We also want to replace the worn-out and broken theater seats throughout the building,” she said. “There are several broken seats in both Theater One and Theater Three. It’s problematic because we can’t sell out an event. After all, we can’t sell out every seat.”
As for other projects, Lansky said the theater’s restrooms need renovating. “They’re terrible,” she said. “The doors are old, and the toilets are old. They all need to be updated.”
Lansky added that the organization would also like to renovate the patio outside. “Our patio is a little bit unsafe because we have loose pavers,” she said. “We could use the patio as an outside space for events if it were renovated. We also need to finish renovating the lobby, including replacing the lobby floor.”
According to Lansky, The Triplex has sold over 70,000 tickets since it reopened. “We are doing very well with our programming,” she said. “But the film industry right now is very fraught. We don’t know sometimes what’s coming down the line, and sometimes we get films that are just not making money anywhere. But we take them, and we do hold special events that are just off the charts.”
Lansky added she hopes that the capital campaign will raise enough funds to complete all of the projects. “We need people to understand that The Triplex is more than just a movie theater,” she said. “We educate people through our programming, and we are a business anchor in downtown Great Barrington. We have shown films that address a huge array of topics, from a mental health series that we brought in professionals from the Austen Riggs Center, to programming where we discuss the issues of addiction with professionals from The Rural Recovery Center. With our programming, we address and discuss topics of the day. We are also a business anchor in downtown Great Barrington. People say, ‘Oh, let’s get dinner downtown, then catch a movie.’ While our business is challenged by the fact that people want to stream movies at home, watching a movie in a theater with a bunch of strangers experiencing the same emotions, whether laughing or crying, is unique. It is a collective experience that we hope people will still value, and that’s why we’re important to everybody in the community.”
For more information, visit The Triplex’s website.
