Great Barrington — If there is anyone who knows about drama, either drama in the movies or creating real-life drama, it’s Mahaiwe Triplex Theater owner Richard Stanley. An apparent battle has broken out over who will buy the movie theater, which Stanley, a South Egremont resident, has owned for the past 28 years.
The theater is located on 70 Railroad Street and is owned through Stanley’s Mahaiwe Triplex Theater Inc. According to town property records, the building was built in 1995 and has been valued at $1,302,600, with its land of 0.4 acres valued at $237,900, with a total valuation of $1,540,500. The current value of the building and the property has been devalued from previous assessments made from 2020 to 2022, which listed the building’s value at $1,538,000, land value at $234,300, and total value at $1,773,100.
Previously, Stanley also owned the Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield from 2009 to 2018, but he sold it to Michigan-based Phoenix Theatres. Back in December, Stanley told The Edge that he intended to sell The Triplex building to Montclair, N.J.-based theater company Cinema Lab. “I guess the short answer is that it needs new and younger blood to bring it into the future,” Stanley told The Edge at the time regarding is reason for selling his business to Cinema Lab. Since his brief interview with The Edge in December, Stanley has refused to respond to phone calls or emails from The Berkshire Edge for various stories on the potential sale of The Triplex.
After the sale was announced, Cinema Lab CEO Luke Parker Bowles told The Edge that Cinema Lab would need to raise $750,000 from local investors to purchase the property by December 31, and, “We already have a certain amount, which is basically half of that or a little less than half.”
In January, right after the first deadline set by Stanley, Parker Bowles told The Edge that he received commitments from 15 investors to purchase the property and that the sale was nearly complete.
Late last month, however, Parker Bowles told The Edge that Cinema Lab did not have enough investors to purchase The Triplex and that some of the pledges from local investors did not materialize. He explained that the company would have to raise an additional $500,000 by March 31, the second deadline set by Stanley, to purchase the theater and that The Triplex would close without the additional funds.
On April 5, right after the second deadline passed, a group of area residents announced via press release that they would raise money to purchase The Triplex Cinema and operate it as a nonprofit cinema and education center. According to the press release from the “Save the Triplex” group, members of the group have been in touch with Stanley, and he has given the group a third deadline of June 1 to purchase the cinema.
Meanwhile, after the press release was published by The Edge, Parker Bowles sent an email to The Edge that said Cinema Lab was not giving up on its plan to purchase The Triplex, and denounced the idea of a nonprofit organization running the theater. “In the time we find ourselves in, and from experience, in this day and age, the feasibility of running a cinema as a not-for-profit is highly risky–without a constant stream of ongoing investment,” Parker Bowles wrote in his email to The Edge. “We hope that the community understands the commitment that is needed so that CINEMA LAB can reopen THE TRIPLEX and maintain its success for many years to come, and give Great Barrington the theater it so richly deserves.”
Despite this, the “Save the Triplex” group, which is being led by residents Nicki Wilson and Hannah Wilken, insists that it is moving forward in forming a nonprofit organization to purchase The Triplex. The formal name of the organization, according to Wilson, will be called “Triplex Cinema, Inc.” The group has created a website with links to donate to the fund to purchase the theater.
Wilson, who describes herself as “a former New Yorker and a film person,” has been in Great Barrington since 1994 and is the president of the board behind “Save the Triplex.”
Wilken, who grew up in Stockbridge and now lives in Lee, is the vice president of the group. “I’m a writer, and one of the things that I credit The Triplex for is introducing me to monumental kinds of storytelling,” Wilken said. “There are a lot of organizations around here, but The Triplex is the most accessible to me.”
“When I was living in the city, I went to every single film,” Wilson said. “I would go from one movie theater to another up on Lexington Avenue. Part of the reason why I moved to Great Barrington was that they were building a movie theater here.”
Wilken said that she has been following the news concerning The Triplex “like a hawk.”
On April 1 and April 2, residents met at Wilson’s house to discuss what to do about The Triplex. “Originally, I thought we were going to raise money for Cinema Lab,” Wilson said. “However, after two days of meeting with each other, the consensus was that we should have a not-for-profit model at The Triplex. Nowadays, for-profit theaters bite the dust.”
When it comes to the situation between The Triplex, the “Save the Triplex” group, and Cinema Lab, Wilson said, “I don’t know why the press is painting this as an ‘us versus them’ situation.” She explained, “We don’t think of it that way because we are a community. Everybody in this community and surrounding towns loves this theater. We’re not thinking about ‘Oh, we’re going to beat out Cinema Lab’ or anything like that. We’re just people who have all come together.”
During the interview, however, Wilson said, based on her research, she feels that Cinema Lab is not a community-oriented company. “Their programming is supposed to be for the community, but if you look on the websites of the two theaters that are up in New Jersey and Colorado, there’s nothing that shows how they interact with the community. Nothing.” Wilson said.
When directly asked if the group has been in contact with Stanley about whether or not the Cinema Lab deal was dead, Wilson said that she has spoken to him several times. “That’s not for me to say, other than nobody’s given him any money [for The Triplex],” Wilson said. “He does not have a contract with them.”
Despite Parker Bowles’ criticism, both Wilken and Wilson said that the nonprofit model for The Triplex is the best way to go for the movie theater. “I’m a film lover, first and foremost,” Wilken said. “To me, what’s exciting about the nonprofit model, rather than the for-profit model, is that running the theater as a nonprofit means that we don’t necessarily need to rely solely on ticket sales. We can tap into the community because both large and small donations can make up any difference and keep it going for much longer in a sustainable way.”
Neither Parker Bowles, Wilken, nor Wilson has told The Edge what price tag Stanley has put on The Triplex. “We don’t want to discuss that because it’s private at this juncture,” Wilson said. “But right now, the group last night, and it was unanimously agreed that we wouldn’t talk about money at this stage.” Despite this, the group has set up a GoFundMe page with a goal of $100,000 in donations.
While Parker Bowles said that, as part of Cinema Lab’s planned purchase, the company would undertake a renovation project of the Triplex building, including the installation of a bar independent of the cinema building, Wilken said, “We’re not exactly sure what we’ll do yet.” She explained, “I can say that [customers] will still be able to buy a $5 beer, and the concessions will still be there. In the long term, we have dreams. We want to make improvements but with the community’s input.”
Both Wilken and Wilson said that there are at least 45 members in their group.
