Historic theatre needs help Patricia’s future in jeopardy By Isabelle Southcott • isabelle@prliving.ca
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hose of us who love the Townsite can’t imagine a time without the historic Patricia Theatre. The longest continuously running cinema in Canada has been a fixture in this community since 1928 in its present location and before that, at another location just down the hill where the cenotaph stands today. This magnificent building is a proud part of Powell River’s heritage. It is a major link in The Townsite’s heritage tourism plan for our National Historic District. If it closes the community will lose one of its crown jewels linking it with the past. Why might it close? “If we don’t upgrade to digital we won’t be able to show movies anymore because the industry will not support a dual inventory of 35 mm film and digital,” says Ann Nelson, operator of the Patricia Theatre.
That upgrade is estimated to cost around $86,000. And that’s $86,000 more than Ann has. In the nine years that Ann and her son Brian have “owned” the theatre, neither one of them have drawn a paycheque from it, she says. And in the 17 years I’ve been living in this community, a tremendous amount of work has been done to restore the Patricia Theatre. “This is not about my business. This is not about Brian and me. It never has been. What does our community look like? What is important to our community? We are in our 99th year of operation and in our 99th year we are in jeopardy more than at any other time in the history of this industry.” At issue, says Ann, is saving the building so it is not bulldozed or re-developed into condos. Digital projection will become standard in the industry by the middle of this year. Currently, The Patricia’s movies are projected
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Powell River Living • february 2012 •
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