In 2014, Mike Burdge founded Story Screen, a community for film enthusiasts, where he and his team of fellow movie lovers organized pop-up screenings and movie-themed events in collaboration with local businesses throughout the Hudson Valley. Now, Burdge and his partner Diana DiMuro are taking Story Screen into its latest iteration, opening their own movie theater in Hudson, continuing their tradition of bringing people together for film. The new Story Screen Cinema, located at 160 Fairview Avenue in the former location of Madison Theatre, is set to have three screens showing all different types of films, plus a bar and arcade.
“A question that I always get is: Why open a movie theater right now, especially with everything going on with the box office,” says Burdge. “But I love movie theaters, I love running movie theaters, and I love operating them.” DiMuro adds, “And we love going to them. We would much rather go see a movie at the theater if we can versus watching it at home.”
Beyond the traveling pop-up events, Story Screen gained local recognition when Burdge helped to reopen and manage the Beacon Theater and its neighboring watering hole, Wonderbar, back in 2019. There, Burdge introduced his Story Screen-style special events and film programming in a fixed and historic location, and during the pandemic, he also kept the theater operational and got creative, even establishing the Story Screen Drive-In.
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But in February 2023, Burdge parted ways with the Beacon Theater. “I separated from my partners there because I wanted to try and make another attempt at a spot that had a little bit more of an angle on repertory [cinema],” says Burdge. “And also, more of a laid-back, fun vibe. The whole thing we set up in Beacon was a little bit more fancy.”
After splitting from the Beacon theater, Story Screen resumed organizing pop-up screenings and events—like VHS Pasta Night, Drag Me to the Movies, Story Screen Trivia, and Movie Bingo—while searching for a new permanent location. In April, DiMuro and Burdge bought their new theater and its equipment after learning it was for sale from some of Burdge’s colleagues. The theater was most recently occupied by the Madison Theatre, which recently closed both its Hudson and Albany locations.
Friends and family supported DiMuro and Burdge in making larger purchases for the theater, and the couple has also raised $10,000 in crowdfunding through a GoFundMe page that has gone to cover startup costs like licensing movies, stocking concessions, and making cosmetic improvements. Now, after renovating and cleaning the theater, they are gearing up to open the space on June 14 with a throwback screening of 1996’s Twister, ahead of the sequel’s release on July 19.
The Story Screen Cinema will have three screening rooms: the largest with 120 seats, the middle with 85 seats, and the smallest with 44 seats. Each seat will have a built-in counter for guests to enjoy food and drinks. Concessions will include candy, popcorn, chicken fingers, pizza, pretzels, and more.
The theater also features a full kitchen and a small bar, and the lobby will have retro arcade games and pinball machines from Beacon’s Happy Valley Arcade Bar and Brooklyn’s Sunshine Laundromat and Pinball. DiMuro and Burdge hope the spot will be a community hub for film buffs where, besides watching movies, patrons can come in, hang out, eat, drink, and play games. “We’re in love with the ’80s and the ’90s kind of stuff,” says Burdge. “And now we’re using technology to try and time travel back to that feeling where it was a lot more fun to go out. We’re all adults now; we have money to spend, but you can be a kid here.”
Overall, the theater will offer a diverse range of programming including new and classic films, first- and second-run movies, independent and foreign films, and beloved old favorites. The initial programming features a mix of family-friendly films like Inside Out 2 and Twister, alongside more mature options like I Saw the TV Glow and In a Violent Nature. Tickets can be purchased online through the Story Screen website and Fandango. For Burdge’s movie recs, you can also follow along with his monthly movie-round-up column on Chronogram’s site.
As they settle into running the new business, Burdge and DiMuro hope to introduce more classic Story Screen events over time. “We’re still going to be doing some fun events that are a little further south where we started out to keep the brand alive,” says DiMuro. “We definitely want to keep those ties with the rest of the Hudson Valley.”
