At The Theater

Closing the doors of the Liberty Theater, clearing the marquee, wiping everything down with sanitizer, cancelling all our film bookings for the time being and issuing notices of postponement for all the live shows we have been planning…none of this is happy work. It is sobering. It wakes you up to the things you took for granted and hope you won’t ever take for granted again.

Michael and Cathy Lee Haight, of Dayton, have generously responded to the crisis with a gift of $10,000 to Touchet Valley Arts Council on March 16. This has boosted our spirits; not only because it helps keep us financially afloat against that day when we will open our doors again, but because it reassures us that what we do is key to the health, vibrancy, strength and resiliency of community. We take “culture” for granted: the norms, rituals, values and activities that define who we are together.

The National Association of Theater Owners (Yes, NATO) puts it this way, “The social nature of human beings – the thing that exposes us to contagion, and that makes it so difficult to change behavior in response to pandemic threats – is also the thing that gives us confidence in the future. People will return to movie theaters because that is who people are. When they return, they will rediscover a cutting edge, immersive entertainment experience that they have been forcefully reminded they cannot replicate at home. In the uncertain, difficult economy ahead, movie theaters will fill the role they always have in boom times and in recessions – the most popular, affordable entertainment available outside the home.”

If you drive by the Liberty Theater today, you will see on our marquee the words “Stay Tuned.” As a veteran of the Liberty stage, I can assure, you the show must, and will, go on.