A newly renovated Capawock theatre in Vineyard Haven is quickly taking shape, and on Monday afternoon, the front doors were wide open and the occasional visitor wandered in. An opening gala is set for May 29. It's the same story at the Strand in Oak Bluffs, with an opening planned for June 19.
One agreement is signed and a second set to be finished that will allow two historic Vineyard movie theatres to reopen for the summer season, organizers say.
A campaign to revive two historic movie theatres has raised more than a third of its $1 million goal. Mark Snider, who created a nonprofit to renovate and lease the Strand and Capawock cinemas, said he has collected $350,000 in pledges in one week.
Mark Snider, owner of the Winnetu Oceanside Resort and the founder of a new nonprofit, is finalizing an agreement with Benjamin Hall Jr. to lease the Capawock and Strand theatres for 10 years, and reopen them beginning this summer.
It was mid-fall and local musician Adam Lipsky was feeling kind of blue. He looked around the Island and thought the possible venues for playing and listening to music felt static.
The Capawock Theatre turns 100 years old this year, but there are no plans to hold a midnight screening celebration. The oldest continually running theatre in the state is closed this winter.