In 1976, Dog Day Afternoon was one of the season’s biggest box office smashes. Nominated for seven Golden Globes, the Oscar-winning dark comedy about a botched bank robbery and starring a rising young Al Pacino grossed nearly $56 million—over $280 million in today’s money. Among the numerous small-town movie houses where the film appeared during its successful first run was the Community Theatre, in the very center of downtown Catskill. And now, nearly half a century later, Dog Day Afternoon, the first movie to be shown when the converted upstairs space was opened in 1976,is set to return to that same space’s screen: On September 12 it will be the first film shown at the newly renovated historic cinema, kicking off the “Spirit of ’76” film festival that will mark the location’s long-awaited reopening.
“This place was the heartbeat of Main Street for so many years, and it’s going to be so great to see it come back,” says Ben Fain, whose Nice and Weird LLC redevelopment firm took over the property and is overseeing the massive building’s—19,000 square feet, with 500 seats in the cavernous main theater and 300 in the upstairs room—extensive overhaul, which is estimated at $2.4 million and is being funded in part by grants from New York State’s Restore New York and Downtown Revitalization Incentive programs.
Grand Premiere
Constructed as a vaudeville theater at the turn of the previous century, the facility was rebuilt after a 1910s fire and reopened in the 1920s via the community-driven effort that inspired its name. Introducing movies to its entertainment programming in the 1940s, for decades it operated as the cultural hub of Catskill, its vibrant neon marquee radiating as the beacon that beckoned wide-eyed customers from around the largely rural area to enter. Once inside, they’d look up to marvel at the grand theater’s soaring ceilings and the rest of its breathtakingly opulent interior before losing themselves in a bit of Golden Age Hollywood escapism. It was an era when a night at the movies was a happening that saw whole families dressed their best and mingling with their neighbors to talk about whatever film they’d just seen, local life, and world events. But, like so many other small-town movie palaces of old, the Community Theatre fell into decline and disuse as television, cable, and home video arose. Despite the adverse advent of streaming services in recent years, there were efforts to bring the place back to life, but Covid brought the momentum to a standstill.
Enter Fain, who with his company launched the local space that currently houses Left Bank Ciders and reopened the shuttered former Catskill Community Center as a yoga studio; his Hudson projects include Kitty’s Market and Restaurant, Grapefruit Wines, and wedding venue The Caboose, while the creation of a Hudson waterfront branch of the organic/sustainable Hawthorne Valley Farm Store is planned to begin next year.
“The theater’s old owner wanted to renovate and reopen it himself, but after a few years he decided to look for someone to hand it off to,” Fain explains. “I really wanted to be part of it.” Previously based in Brooklyn, Fain resettled in Catskill in 2016 and guides Nice and Weird with a focus on green and renewable energy via carbon-neutral renovations to existing structures. “I don’t consider myself a developer,” the former sculptor says. “I come from an art background and I kind of fell into [restoration projects] through my day job, which was rehabbing buildings in the city.”
Restarting the historically attentive restoration got underway last year using local contractors, and Fain brought in Kim Bucci and Ray Pirkle of design group Ramshackle Studio, who own Rivertown Lodge in Hudson and Camptown hotel in Leeds, to revamp the concessions counter and bathrooms and design a new lobby bar, cafe, and lounge area where the theater plans to host occasional small-scale musical performances. In addition to screening films in both cinema spaces, the larger downstairs room will also be the site of auditorium-level concerts and other live events.
Drive-In Force
To oversee the theater’s programming and day-to-day operations and help with the renovation work, Fain is partnering with the nonprofit Community Presents. The nonprofit was founded by Greg Mills, Sydney Schutte, and Brian Whitney, the same team behind the successful revival of the Hi-Way Drive-In and the Kingston Film Foundation. “For a film lover like me, it was manna from heaven,” says Mills about Fain’s offering him the management position at the Community, where he and Shutte plan to program a mix of first-run and Hollywood blockbuster films in the main theater and art-house, indie, foreign, and repertory films in the smaller second-floor room. “It’s been tireless work with the construction process, but it’s really important to make sure things are done right historically, for the theater itself and its place within the village, while also bringing in the modern film projection and sound-system technology and the other updates that we need to have.” In addition to adding various ADA-compliant elements, Fain, Mills, and their crew have refinished and beautified the structure inside and out, bringing it back to its original glory by restoring the original plasterwork; repainting the walls and fixtures; updating the electrical systems; relocating and expanding the restrooms; laying down new, period-appropriate carpeting; and mending its iconic lighted marquee, among the dozens of other items on their ongoing schedule of repairs. Planned for 2026 and 2027 are more audio and lighting upgrades to the main theater room’s system and the installation of new dressing rooms below the stage’s storied orchestra pit and a stage-adjacent green room for performers. The calendar of films and events was still being determined at the time of this writing, but Mills says the theater will be open five days a week to start.
“We’re excited,” says Liam Singer, who owns and operates nearby music venue the Avalon Lounge. As the former owner of the Hi-Lo coffeehouse on Main Street (now occupied by Cafe Joust), Singer was one of the initial leaders of Catskill’s long-awaited revitalization, and he sees the Community’s plans to book live music as complementing, rather than competing with, what he does at his club. “The level of bands they plan to have in the main room over there would be too big for the Avalon, so it’s great that those bands will now have place to play in Catskill. With the opening of the theater, it really feels like the last missing piece of the nightlife puzzle has been found. With Avalon and the restaurants and other bars that are already here, now people will be able to also see a movie or a bigger concert and really have a night out. It’s an anchor.”
Up and Down and Back Up Again
Catskill’s rebirth has been hard-won and filled with many frustrating fits and starts. Founded in 1788, the creekside Greene County seat experienced an economic boom in 1800 but suffered its first big downturn in 1825 when the recently completed Erie Canal began detouring trade away from the town. It rebounded in the 1850s as a sightseeing gateway to the Catskill Mountains and their newly built resorts; during the late 19th century tourism and local industry saw the town prosper until the Great Depression. World War II manufacturing led to economic prosperity that lasted until the 1980s industrial exodus and the subsequent crack epidemic set in during the 1990s. The openings of the Foreland art studio complex and the Lumberyard Center for Dance and Performing Arts in respectively, 2021 and 2018, were part of a wave that seemed poised to bring Catskill back from the precipice—until Covid reared its ugly head to kneecap that progress, bringing about the loss of the Lumberyard and other promising businesses. But now, with the combination of a post-pandemic reemergence and its neighbor Hudson’s prohibitive, ever-rising costs of real estate and rentals, Catskill, with its growing, walkable Main Street landscape of tidy-but-wallet-friendly shops and eateries, is fast becoming the place to be. And, visually as well as spiritually, the Catskill Community Theatre looks set to retake its place as the town’s glowing crown jewel.
“Greg and I both feel an enormous responsibility to the history of this place,” Fain says. “While the work has been going on, it seems like we’re always stopping each other, stepping back to look at things while we’re working on them and ask, ‘Does this seem right?’ It’s like we’re constantly challenging each other to make sure we’re staying loyal to the theater’s aesthetic while we get it ready to operate at a 21st-century level. Maybe we agonize too much about that stuff. [Laughs.] But it’s totally worth it.”
The Catskill Community Theatre will officially reopen to the public on September 5 at 4pm with a ribbon cutting ceremony on the theater’s main stage. Guests are invited to walk through the space, enjoy free popcorn and drinks, and explore recent renovations. Dog Day Afternoon will show in the theater’s upstairs screening room on September 12. See website for screening times, ticket information, and a schedule of films and events.
This article appears in September 2025.
So, I got to work the old projectors as a young lady in 2004-2005. The owner Tom was being pushed by family( his daughter was like cruella) to sell but did not want to. I loved it. Absolutely terrifying to go under the old stage place where we found all sort of old bottles and theatre pieces. the coolest was in 2005 when War of the Worlds released with Tom Cruise..as many know it was partially filmed in the area so the night of opening we had hundreds and hundreds of the “extras” who were in the Ferry scene! I was up in the projection room and it was too fun to hear them yell out ” look! did you see me! ” as the scenes went by. We used to sneak from the projector room up onto the roof and watch satellites. I left my sandals up there!