Photography by Danny Fulgencio
The Texas Theatre began running films inside its auditorium in October for the first time in six months.
The historic Oak Cliff theater now screens movies and holds live shows at 16% capacity, which is 100 people. That’s lower than the 50% capacity allowed by the state.
The theater recently invested in a new HVAC system with bipolar ionization technology.
But they don’t want to frame it as “re-opening.”
“We’re giving people several options for experiencing the Texas Theatre,” says Barak Epstein, the theater’s managing partner.
The theater launched its outdoor series, a drive-in movie shown in its rear parking lot, in July. It shows three or four movies a week, and almost all of them sell out, Epstein says.
Those will continue, along with virtual programming, he says.
The theater also tried to recoup some of its loss of concession sales with curbside pickup, and it held the virtual “Not the Oak Cliff Film Fest,” which showed short films and a Q&A in June. The free event generated donations for a Black Lives Matter nonprofit.
Epstein says they still plan to organize the 2020 Oak Cliff Film Festival, which will be branded as the 10th annual, even if this year’s festival, the ninth, has an asterisk.
“This has been a rough year for the whole industry,” Epstein says. “But we’ve been able to mitigate our losses with the drive-in, and we’re going to be fine.”
Catch “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” with live score performed by the Invicible Czars, at 4:300or 9 p.m. on Halloween.
