Little Theatre (Rochester, New York)

Last updated
Little Theatre
LittleTheatreRochesterNewYork.JPG
The Little Theatre, Rochester NY
Location Rochester, New York
Coordinates 43°9′21.15″N77°35′51.77″W / 43.1558750°N 77.5977139°W / 43.1558750; -77.5977139
Built1929
ArchitectEdgar Phillips
Architectural style Art Deco
Website thelittle.org
MPS Inner Loop MRA
NRHP reference No. 85002860 [1]
Added to NRHPOctober 4, 1985

The Little Theatre, commonly known as The Little, is a movie theatre located on East Avenue in downtown Rochester, New York, and a non-profit multiplex specializing in art film, including independent and foreign productions outside the United States.

Contents

Founded in 1929, The Little is one of the oldest theaters for art-house cinema in the United States. [2] Since 2011, the Little Theatre has been an affiliate of the WXXI Public Broadcasting Council, a non-profit community organization which owns and operates the region's principal public radio and television stations. [3]

The Little has served as a performance venue during the Rochester International Jazz Festival held annually in June. [4] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the building was closed and the theater switched to an online format, streaming independent films from its website. [4] Since 2021, the Little Theatre has been home to the High Falls Film Festival, a monthly series focused on celebrating women in film. [5] In 2022, the theater received the Excellence in Historic Preservation award from the Preservation League of New York State for restoration work of its interior, which aimed to match the original 1929 appearance of the theater as closely as possible while improving its accessibility. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochester, New York</span> City in New York, United States

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Monroe County. It is the fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the larger Rochester metropolitan area in Western New York, with a population of over 1.09 million residents. Throughout its history, Rochester has acquired several nicknames based on local industries; it has been known as "the Flour City" and "the Flower City" for its dual role in flour production and floriculture, and as the "Imaging Capital of the World" for its association with film and still photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castro Theatre</span> Historic movie palace in San Francisco

The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in the Castro District of San Francisco, California. The venue became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window surmounted by a scrolling pediment framing a niche—to the basilica of Mission Dolores nearby. Its designer, Timothy L. Pflueger, also designed Oakland's Paramount Theater and other movie theaters in California during that period. The theater has more than 1,400 seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinerama Dome</span> Movie theater in Hollywood, California

The Cinerama Dome is a movie theater located at 6360 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pacific Theatres. The Cinerama Dome continued as a leading first-run theater, most recently as part of the ArcLight Hollywood complex, until it closed temporarily in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The ArcLight chain closed permanently in April 2021, with the theater never having reopened. In June 2022, it was announced that there were plans to reopen it and the former ArcLight Hollywood under a new name, Cinerama Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Theatre (Atlanta)</span> Movie theater in Atlanta, Georgia, United States

The Fox Theatre, a former movie palace, is a performing arts venue located at 660 Peachtree Street NE in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, and is the centerpiece of the Fox Theatre Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Theatre</span> Theater and former movie theater in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a 3600 seat performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forum Theatre</span> Theatre, cinema and music venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The Forum Theatre is a historic theatre and former cinema now used as a live music and event venue located on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street in Melbourne, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uptown Theater (Minneapolis)</span> Movie theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Uptown Theatre is one of the oldest surviving theaters in the Twin Cities area. It was in active use from 1916 to 2020. The theater reopened on June 10, 2023 as a music and event venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Theater (Spokane, Washington)</span> Performing arts venue and former movie theater in Spokane, Washington, US

The Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington is a 1931 Art Deco movie theater that now serves as a performing arts venue and home of the Spokane Symphony. It was designed by architect Robert C. Reamer, notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. It was part of the Fox Film Corporation Empire founded by studio mogul William Fox. The theater opened September 3, 1931 and showed films continuously until it closed September 21, 2000 after an engagement of the movie Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.

The WXXI Public Broadcasting Council is a community non-profit organization of some 36,000 subscribing members in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area that owns that city's major public television and Community radio stations, a newspaper, and other broadcasting services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senator Theatre</span> United States historic place

The Senator Theatre is a historic Art Deco movie theater on York Road in the Govans section of Baltimore, Maryland. It is the oldest operating movie theater in central Maryland and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated Baltimore City Landmark.

The American Cinematheque is an independent, non-profit cultural organization in Los Angeles, California, United States dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the moving image in all its forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Palace</span> Theater in Manhattan, New York

The United Palace is a theater at 4140 Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The theater, occupying a full city block bounded by Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue, and West 175th and 176th Streets, functions both as a spiritual center and as a nonprofit cultural and performing arts center. Architect Thomas W. Lamb designed the theater as a movie palace, which opened in 1930 as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. The theater's lavishly eclectic interior decor was supervised by Harold Rambusch, who also designed the interior of the Roxy Theatre and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmospheric theatre</span> Type of movie theater

An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.

The High Falls Film Festival, founded in 2001, is a film festival that focuses on celebrating women in film. The festival is inspired by Rochester, New York's legacy in nitrate film and the women’s rights movement.

The Palm Theatre is a theatre in the historic Chinatown district of San Luis Obispo, California, located across from the historic Ah Louis building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crandell Theatre</span>

The nonprofit Crandell Theatre is located in the Village of Chatham, N.Y., and is Columbia County’s oldest and largest single-screen movie theater. The nearly 100-year-old community cinema is supported by ticket sales and earned revenue, contributions of members and friends, and private and public grants, including the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The theater is dedicated to enriching the cultural vitality of the region through film programming that challenges, inspires, educates and entertains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queens Theatre in the Park</span> Professional theatre in Queens, New York

Queens Theatre, formerly Queens Theatre in the Park and before that Queens Playhouse, is an American professional theatre, located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City, New York. Artistic and Executive Directors have included Joseph S. Kutrzeba, founder and producer; Robert Moss, Sue Lawless, Jeffrey Rosenstock and Ray Cullom, formerly Managing Director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, and currently, Taryn Sacramone, former Executive Director of Astoria Performing Arts Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mara Ahmed</span> Pakistani American filmmaker

Mara Ahmed is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based on Long Island, New York. Her production company is Neelum Films.

The Rochester Fringe Festival, held annually in Rochester, NY since 2012., is one of the three most-attended fringe festivals in the United States. In 2019, the festival attracted more than 100,000 attendees. Held for 12 days in September, the festival features more than 500 performances -- more than a quarter of which are free of charge -- in established venues such as theatres, art galleries and cafes, as well as pop-up, site-specific shows in streets, parking lots, and tents throughout Rochester's East End and Neighborhood of the Arts districts near Downtown Rochester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Village East by Angelika</span> Movie theater in Manhattan, New York

Village East by Angelika is a movie theater at 189 Second Avenue, on the corner with 12th Street, in the East Village of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the former Yiddish Theatre District, the theater was designed in the Moorish Revival style by Harrison Wiseman and built from 1925 to 1926 by Louis Jaffe. In addition to Yiddish theatre, the theater has hosted off-Broadway shows, burlesque, and movies. Since 1991, it has been operated by Angelika Film Center as a seven-screen multiplex. Both the exterior and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks, and the theater is on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Gorbman, Randy (8 November 2022). "The Little Theatre recognized for preservation efforts with statewide award". WXXI News. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  3. "WXXI and Little Theatre Announce Merger". WXXI News. 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 "The History of WXXI Public Media". WXXI. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. Spevak, Jeff (9 July 2021). "High Falls Women's Film Festival shifts to monthly showings". WXXI News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2024.