Zach Perrier
Viewpoints Editor
The Lyric Theater reopened and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this past Friday, Feb. 17. It was the culmination of years of planning and the completion of a $3.2 million fundraising campaign.
The original Lyric Theater opened in 1912 on East Liberty Street, and the current theater sits on the corner of South and Market Street — the location of the last iteration of the theater that operated between 1979 and 2010.
At 3 p.m., the theater’s board welcomed audiences to the newly-renovated Lyric. Cameron Maneese ’79 and Christopher Buchanan, founding board members, gave remarks at the theater’s entrance.
“When you go into this building, it’s not just walls. There’s a lot of love attached literally to these walls, and it’s going to welcome many people,” Maneese said. “See how much the community supported this project.”
Buchanan noted that the project started with a simple question: “What if we started a movie theater?” That question guided Maneese and Buchanan to bring Greg Shaya, professor of history and global media & digital studies at the College, to the board. Shaya currently serves as the board’s president.
According to Shaya, the plans for the Lyric began to shift to more than just a movie theater in the last couple of years as the project’s completion drew closer.
“We began the idea that we were going to reopen a movie theater,” Shaya said after the ribbon-cutting. “And the more we looked at other theaters to see what worked, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to be a destination. We wanted to be a place for great films, but also [for] old films and live entertainment.” Ultimately, Shaya saw the Lyric as expanding “the menu of entertainment at Wooster.”
Jeremy Thomas, managing director of the Lyric, also said that the theater brought “an elevated experience” beyond what one would expect from a movie theater. Thomas noted the soundproofing between the two main theaters, allowing for both movies and live entertainment to be shown at the same time “without them interfering with each other.”
Many of those at the ribbon-cutting stuck around to talk in the lobby, including Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce president Samira Zimmerly. “It took a lot of people working together to make this project happen,” Zimmerly said, going on to say that the theater is “a great addition to the vibrant downtown that we have,” alongside the St. Paul Hotel and restaurants in the immediate area.
The lobby after the ceremony was filled with the smell of buttered popcorn and chatter of moviegoers, filing in to see international films like “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and blockbusters like “Wicked.” At the end of the lobby is a lounge with stool seats and the theater’s self-serve beer machine. Art for sale from local artists adorns the lounge’s walls, including a portrait of David Bowie, metal sculptures and paintings of buildings at the College in a pointillist style.Those paintings of the College reflect Shaya’s vision of future links between the College and the greater community through events and programming at the Lyric. Shaya posited, “I think it only does good if we can connect the community and the College, and bring people downtown to a place that’s safe and fun — and very welcoming.”
