The Jaffrey Park Theatre is approaching completion, and a scheduled summer opening date that may be delayed as all theaters are currently shut down under the state’s coronavirus protocol.
The Park Theatre, while under construction, had still offered some select programming through its River Street Threatre offices, and during the coronavirus shut-down, has continued to offer live broadcasts, entitled “Monadnock Tonight!” twice a week.
Steve Jackson, CEO of the Park Theatre said the theater is looking into other broadcasting options to allow people to access free and paid-for programming while they’re not able to gather in person.
The program offers local news and interviews with local businesses and health officials.
But whether the theater will be able to open and operate for its official purpose this summer is still up in the air.
“We’re in a situation right now that I don’t think there’s a soul that runs a theater that could say when they’re going to be open,” Jackson said. “We’re in one of the most troublesome categories, because by design what we do is a communal experience. We’re by design a place to gather to do something.”
Jackson said that in function, the theater was prepared to open in late June or early July. The majority of fundraising has been completed, and construction of the main building is in its end stages, he said, with only furnishings and outfitting the building to go. But he said even if the state is prepared to allow theaters to open at that point in the summer, it may be difficult to secure live acts or audiences who are wary of gathering at places like the Park Theatre.
“If you open, does that mean that people are going to come?” Jackson said.
The theater, which is a reconstruction of the former Park Street Theatre, which has been defunct for years, was set to open this summer to provide movies, live performances and rental space, after more than a decade of fundraising by a group of mostly grass-roots organizers who were dedicated to seeing the theater revive.
But theaters were not one of the businesses provided protocols and the go-ahead to reopen under the state’s Phase 1 of a return to normalcy. While drive-in theaters are allowed to open under Phase 1, with a 10-foot distance between cars, there is no word yet on when other entertainment venues may return to normal business.
However, despite the uncertainty, Jackson said the final stages of fundraising for the theater have not slowed, and even amidst coronavirus concerns, donors stepped up with two major gifts for the completion of the theater.
The Park Theatre announced last month the receipt of several large gifts as it closes in on the completion of construction. In April, Stephen and Ashley King contributed $150,000 to the project, in return for naming rights of the upper auditorium, which will be named in honor of Stephen King’s father, Michael B. King of Dublin, a former trustee of Park Theatre for 14 years, and a founding member of the restoration committee committed to bringing the theater back to life.
King curated and organized the theater’s free movie nights during the summers, but died in 2016 at the age of 82, before he could see the final revival of the theater.
The theater also announced this month it had made its matching goal for another large gift, from the Eppes-Jefferson Foundation, which had also secured the naming rights to the main auditorium, which is to be named for William David Eppes.
The Eppes-Jefferson Foundation Inc., in addition to a donation for the naming rights of the auditorium, offered a gift of $50,000, if first-time donors to the project could match the donations by May 2, a challenge the theater was able to meet.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.