Colonial Theatre brings entertainment and ‘meaning’ to Bethlehem

Staff of the Colonial Theatre in Bethlehem are, from left: house manager Jane Storella, executive director Christine Etter and programming director Susanna Brent. (Photo by John Angelo)

“There’s so much meaning here in this space and so much meaning for the local community,” said Bethlehem’s Colonial Theatre Executive Director Christine Etter. “It also fits into this larger story about an era that’s almost unrecognizable now.”

The Colonial Theatre opened its doors in May 1915, and it came dangerously close to being lost to history over the winter of 2000-01. After years of winter snow accumulation, the roof of the building, designed in the Egyptian Revival style by noted architect Francis J. Kennard, buckled due to the weakness of the roof’s main truss, and the marquee came tumbling down.

It would have been a sad ending for the art nouveau gem.

Etter’s predecessor, founding director Stephen Dignazio, orchestrated a $327,500 grant through the NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to rebuild, secured an additional $20,000 for the roof, and set the theater up as a nonprofit. Today, about 700 of the community’s citizens have memberships in the theater, and community partners include the Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network, the Bethlehem Redevelopment Association, the Littleton Food Coop and the Northern New Hampshire Foundation, among many others. The 2021 annual report for the Colonial lists approximately 375 supporters.

“The Colonial Theatre is a community cultural center, with the emphasis on community,” Dignazio told The Record, a North Country newspaper in 2019. North Country Community Radio even has its transmitter on the roof of the Colonial. Dignazio was presented with a Governor Arts Award by then-Gov. Maggie Hassan in 2013, and the Colonial Theatre was placed on the New Hampshire Register of Historic Places in 2002.

‘So different’

The pre-World War I era is the key to the Colonial Theatre’s existence. During a time when miasma or bad air was considered the root of many common illnesses, the town of Bethlehem was considered a mecca for city denizens looking to breathe free. The grand hotel era took off in the 1870s and found Bethlehem home to 20 hotels, with four trains a day bringing passengers to the North Country, including one direct from Manhattan’s Grand Central Station.

Approximately 4,000 visitors swelled Bethlehem’s modest population each summer. The Sinclair Hotel, the Agassiz House and the Altamonte House did a brisk business. The Maplewood Hotel alone could house 550 guests.

To entertain tourists, tennis, horseback riding, bowling, hiking, baseball, skeet shooting and golf were available. The Maplewood Caddy Camp gave instruction to 80 boys each summer from 1915 to 1941, with the boys earning $17 per week minus $5 for room and board in 1941. A Gala Day Coaching Parade (1887-1935) was dubbed “The Second Greatest Show on Earth” by P.T. Barnum in 1889.

Bethlehem has a vibrant Jewish community today in part because the Hebrew Hay Fever Relief Association sought it out as a destination in the 1920s. The Colonial recently held a Jewish Film Festival.

“This space is so different from other movie theaters,” Etter said. “It’s different to be in a building that Robert Frost probably visited … It’s like a remnant or testament to that time. It definitely plays into decisions we make for the Colonial.”

Director of programming Susanna Brent selects the menu of films for the Colonial from mainstream movies to indies with community support and input. According to Etter, it’s a big responsibility, as people will come to the theater just because it’s the Colonial.

“You want to stretch people’s curiosity, to give them a good balance of things,” the director explained. “There’s a lot of trust there from our audience that they’re going to like what they come to see.”

House manager Jane Storella oversees the retro concession stand among other duties. During the Colonial’s renovation 20 years ago, a cache of old movie posters was found. Posters of films starring Gary Cooper, Clara Bow and Lionel Barrymore decorate the lobby. A working antique penny Nickelodeon with a container of pennies for the curious is on display as well.

Etter, who took over from Dignazio in January 2021, explained, “2019 was the most successful year in the Colonial’s history. When you’re comparing it to a pandemic, it’s a little devastating to look at, but we were really well-equipped to manage this storm. Our challenge is that the pandemic is not a short-term thing, that we need to rebound from it and remind audiences that we’re here and putting on the same wonderful programming. Growing our programming is our mission going forward.”

According to Etter, the Colonial, which usually has a season that runs from the first week of May to the first week of November, opened its doors at 25 percent capacity in July 2020, its seasonality offering a buffer around the many closings during the pandemic.

Depending on who you ask, the Colonial Theatre or San Francisco’s Roxie Theatre is the oldest continually running movie theater in the United States.

“We’ve softened our message to say ‘one of the oldest,’ Etter said, “but I haven’t seen the Roxie’s documentation at all.”

More than a movie theater

In a tour of the theater, the director pointed out the original metal seats, which had been reupholstered, and the tin ceiling, common in the day for being fireproof. Care had to be taken when drilling holes in the tin to install a sprinkler system. The end seat in each row features a metal art deco line design.

The Colonial Theatre, which now seats 300, is much more than a movie theater. It is home this summer to the White Mountain Cinema Camp, offering area high school students professional instruction and tools to produce a professionalquality short film under the tutelage of Littleton’s Midnight Enterprises.

“The students get a hands-on, start-to-finish experience of what it takes to build a movie from coming up with a concept, coming up with a screenplay, deciding how to film, going into production and editing, and even designing a poster and participating in a Q&A onstage, Etter said.”

The director explained how the camp is kept accessible to all area teens. Its $25 fee includes lunches provided by Rek’lis Brewing and is funded in large part by Nancy and Julian Czarny, William Oppenheimer and the NH Charitable Foundation.

The Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust and the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund recently provided the money for a Wild Thing Series for children. Live performances of music and comedians are a part of what the theater offers, though acts are limited to seven members due to the size of the stage. Grammy Award winners and nominees Sam Bush, Gaby Moreno, Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, and Jontavious Willis have appeared and will appear in 2022.

The nonprofit theater currently has a board of 14 members.

“We really couldn’t do it without the broad support of our community and from the volunteers in particular,” Etter said. “That’s so many people filling so many roles. When we have concerts, we have like 14 volunteers here. That’s a lot of human power!”

Etter, Brent and Storella can draw on a group of 80 volunteers to run everything from the concession stand to the projector.

“No one owns the Colonial Theatre,” Etter said. “It’s created in federation and service to the community.”

“This space is so different from other movie theaters.”

— EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHRISTINE ETTER