Great Barrington — Five months after closing its doors, and after several struggles and dramas surrounding its ownership, The Triplex Cinema reopened on Friday, November 17.
The community-based nonprofit Save The Triplex purchased the cinema from the previous owner, South Egremont resident Richard Stanley, in late July for $1 million.
In a previous interview with The Berkshire Edge, the November 17 reopening was classified as a “soft opening” by Save The Triplex group President Nicki Wilson, with only two of the theater’s four screens open for business.
The third theater is scheduled to reopen on Friday, December 15, while it is not known when the fourth theater will reopen.
While all of the people associated with the nonprofit organization that Berkshire Edge interviewed said that there was plenty of fundraising that needs to be done for the organization, along with work that still needs to be done to The Triplex building itself, the soft opening on November 17 was a victory for both the organization and the town.
“I’m still in a little bit of shock that we reopened in a short period,” Triplex Cinema Inc. nonprofit organization board Vice President Hannah Wilken told The Berkshire Edge. “A few months ago, my heart sank when I drove into Great Barrington because the lights were off in this building. Now they’re on again, and I’m so happy.”
“When I came here tonight and I saw people buying tickets and expressing their gratitude for us being here, it was so humbling,” Treasurer Sam Handel said. “This has been a big community effort. A lot of people have all contributed their time, money, passion, and expertise for all of this to happen so quickly.”
For the first night back, The Triplex showed the family movie “Trolls Band Together”, along with “The Holdovers”.
Ticket sales were reportedly heavy for both movies.
“The support from the Berkshire County community has been overwhelming to us,” Triplex Managing Director Ben Elliot said. “We’ve had so many people come and tell us how much this theater has meant to them over the years. I think this support has gone beyond what we were all expecting when this campaign started. It was a lot of work to get to this reopening, and it took every single donation that we got, and every single effort from our volunteers to get The Triplex open again.”
Elliot said that the theater will have about 10 full- and part-time employees and that they are still looking to hire people.
“I think that, if there is one silver lining to the theater being closed for the last few months, it is a reminder of what this theater means to the downtown Great Barrington area,” Elliot said. “I think in a lot of ways, the absence of The Triplex has made people’s hearts grow fonder for the theater and made them realize how valuable The Triplex is to the community. Yes, the nonprofit organization has the building, but there’s still a lot of work to be done on the theaters. There’s also much more work to be done for us to know what the community is looking for when it comes to The Triplex.”
“There is a lot more to come for us,” Wilken said. “This is the first of many, many good days for The Triplex.”
For more information about The Triplex, including listings of movies and events, go to its website.
