Great Barrington — It has been over one year since The Triplex Cinema reopened its doors after a long ownership drama that was, in itself, worthy of a Hollywood movie plot.
South Egremont resident Richard Stanley previously owned the theater for 28 years. In January 2023, New Jersey-based theater company Cinema Lab announced that it would buy The Triplex. In March 2023, however, it was revealed that the company did not have enough money to purchase the theater.
Stanley subsequently announced that the theater would shut down by June 2023 if it could not find a buyer.
In April 2023, several Berkshire County residents formed a grassroots group, Save the Triplex, to purchase the theater with plans to operate as a nonprofit organization. The leaders of the grassroots group and Cinema Lab then battled it out through statements and press releases arguing who had a better vision for the movie theater.
In the ensuing months, Save the Triplex raised $670,380 via a GoFundMe fundraiser, and over 800 individual donors supported the campaign to purchase the theater.
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, under its new ownership as a nonprofit.
Since its reopening, the theater has hosted movie discussions and special events. The Triplex was one of the hosts of the annual Berkshire International Film Festival, and it has also hosted events featuring Bill Murray, Griffin Dunne, and other figures from both Hollywood and the independent filmmaking world.
The motto of The Triplex, on display throughout the building, is “Movies For All.” “We settled on that motto because we are community supported, and we like to think of ourselves as a community hub,” Triplex Cinema Board President Nicki Wilson told The Berkshire Edge. “The Triplex had a longtime reputation before it closed as a place where you could come and see some art films, but at the same time, you could also see the latest blockbuster movies. We wanted to honor the history of this theater when we took it over.”
“One of the many things that we all love about movies is that it is such an accessible art form,” said Triplex Creative Director Ben Elliott [DISCLAIMER: Ben Elliott writes a weekly column for The Berkshire Edge titled “At The Triplex”]. “We live in an amazing community filled with fantastic performance venues and museums. However, it sometimes feels like there are barriers to entry for some members of the community where they don’t feel like those spaces are for them. We want The Triplex to feel like a place for everyone in the community, and that means having programs that interest as many different parts of the community as possible.”
Wilson said that this includes having leaders of local organizations take part in film screenings. “For example, if we have a film about domestic abuse, we invite the leader of the Elizabeth Freeman Center to come down and speak about it,” Wilson said. “If we have a film about aging, we have a conversation afterward about aging. We’ve had many film discussion events, but the most exciting thing is that, afterward, everyone goes out into our lobby and continues the conversation.”
“Community connections are a core part of our mission,” Elliott said. “Connection is an important part of the experience, and we want to not only preserve connections but also find ways to cultivate it. Movies are an accessible way to enter different worlds and get different viewpoints. It’s such a great way to live in other people’s experiences. Movies allow someone to step in someone else’s shoes for a little bit. When we have events and have people from the community come and talk about how they have just watched a movie, it’s an important part of cultivating connections.”
Both Wilson and Elliott said that the past year has not been without its struggles, especially considering that the movie industry is still rebounding from the pandemic. “The movie industry is still kind of figuring out what its future looks like,” Elliott said. “When the industry was still kind of coming back from the pandemic, that was right then the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild of America strikes all hit. It’s been an inconsistent year because of the strikes.”
Elliott said that, despite the strikes putting a halt to Hollywood releases for some time, the industry has started to bounce back. “Recently, theaters had their best Thanksgiving weekend in box office history,” Elliott said. “Thanks to ‘Wicked’ and ‘Moana 2,’ we had a record attendance for that weekend. Things have been coming along well over the past few months.”
Both Elliott and Wilson said that they hope The Triplex will continue to thrive in 2025 and beyond through community support. “We are a community-run theater, and because of the community The Triplex continues to exist,” Wilson said. “However, it’s never ever a done deal. Movie theaters alone do not make money. We’re hoping that the community continues to financially support us in the way they have been this past year so we can continue to be there for them and meet the needs of the community.”
“The economics of operating an independent movie theater [are] rough,” Elliott said. “We knew that coming into this, but this year has been even harder than usual. We have only made it through this year because of the support of the community, but we need continued support. When we opened, I think people were like, ‘Mission accomplished, Triplex saved.’ But it’s an ongoing process to continue to operate The Triplex, and we need the community’s support to help us get to where we want to go in the future.”
For more information about The Triplex, visit its website.
