"A Tale of Openings and Closings of The Russell Theatre"

 

The Russell Theatre has gone through many changes and closures since it first opened its doors. The Russell Theatre first opened its doors in August of 1938 and was known as "Southwest Virginia's Finest Show Room." One of the first theatres in the area with air conditioning, with red velvet seating and curtains, two aisles and three sections of seats. Admission was ten cents and popcorn was a nickel. A Mr. James Guilfoil was the manager at the time. They held weekly drawings for money that usually brought in large crowds to see serial pictures, cartoons, and westerns. During WWII, war updates were shown before the feature presentations. John Leonard was another longtime manager, in those early years school buses were used on Saturdays to bring those from across Russell County to see the shows. Tickets had jumped to eleven cents; a box of popcorn and a coke were five cents. As it moved into the 50's and 60's management had not kept up with upgrades to the building or the movie equipment, because of this attendance dwindled and support fell off drastically and the Theatre closed it doors in the mid 60's. After being closed for several years, David Leonard assumed ownership and remodeled and added much needed upgrades and reopened on March 24th, 1978. The remodeling and upgrades dropped the compacity from 340 to 300 but added much more comfortable seating and space between aisles, that had brand new carpet. The outside remained with the original yellow brick and a newly painted ticket booth and shutters in Williamsburg red. An updated green slate floor and wallpaper could be found in the lobby, along with significant upgrades to the new larger concession stand. Manager at that time was Warren Ferguson who worked tirelessly trying to provide the best movies available, showing many of the top-rated movies at that time, but the success of The Russell Theatre was again short lived and closed around 1983. Around 1986 the theatre re-opened for a brief period as the Teen Rocker, a club for teens that had music and dancing, live music and guest DJ's. This endeavor was short lived, and the theatre once again closed in 1987, remaining empty until 1991. Jerry Hale rented and upgraded the theatre and re-opened in August of 1991. The equipment was not compatible with new upgrades to the movie industry and was upgraded. The screen was too small for the new movie formats so they expanded the screen so that the films would fit. The compacity had again shrunk and now seated 250, admission was three dollars and fifty cents for adults and two dollars for children, popcorn was one dollar a box. It remained a struggle not having a lot of support and most of the revenues going to the motion picture company. Live shows with local bands were also tried in order to get folks in the theatre, but to no avail. The theatre once again closed again in 1996. From 1996. For nearly 30 years the theatre set dormant and unused.

 

On November 18th , 2019, the building and property were purchased by the Town of Lebanon. As part of the Downtown Revitalization effort where the town removed slum and blight, upgraded business facades, and upgraded its streetscapes, The Russell Theatre was a major part of that effort. Setting in an "eyesore" state, the theatre building was part of the slum & blight reported in the downtown area and almost looked beyond repair. Construction renovation began at the end of December 2020 and continued through 2021, 2022, and September 2023. Most notable to the outside of the theatre is the upgraded Marquee. It was decided to go with more of the original "historic" look and making it larger as well, with more of a Three-Dimensional look to the lettering and taking the marquee almost to the top of the building. The color scheme is hunter green with yellow blub lighting also much like the original colors. The original ticket booth and style doors with original hardware remain.  The new marquee and show boxes are all digital. Inside is where you will find most of the changes have occurred. The stage is now three times larger than the original, equipped with all the electrical and sound equipment hook-ups in the floor in order to accommodate all live shows. A new motorized large projector screen can be dropped down out of the ceiling for watching movies. The original brick walls were uncovered during demolition and kept with newly added sconce lighting and artistic sound panels. All new comfort seating and middle aisle carpeting with neon lighting have been added. The balcony has been extended and contains that same seating.  All equipment, sound, lighting, and video are the latest state-of-the-art equipment on the market. The lobby has black and white checkered tile flooring, with updated restrooms and a small concession area.  Occupancy for the Theatre is now 181 with 140 seats in the main level and 41 in the balcony. September 23rd, 2023, The Russell Theatre re-opened its doors after being closed for 30 years. Plans are to be home to Live Events, Movies, and Community and Regional Events. We hope you will come and visit and take a step back in time and a leap forward with our state-of-the-art renovations.