The Maplewood Theater has always found a way to survive when so many small town movie houses couldn’t. Opening in 1927, the theater withstood tides of recessions, bankruptcy, wartimes, and vast changes in the public’s taste in entertainment.
When it was shuttered during the pandemic, many thought Maplewood Theater would find a way to cheat death once again. The owner at the time, George Sayegh, also owned the Hawthorne Theater, which has since reopened.
But it wasn’t to be. The building’ where the theater is located is currently owned by Anthony Lofreddo, who is now negotiating a sale with a prospective buyer — Maplewood Redevelopment LLC — who has until July 14 to decide. Now, the future is uncertain.
But the story isn’t over. Angela Matusik and Lisa Cohen founded the Maplewood Film Society last year in part to raise awareness of what might be lost.
These days, they hold screenings and talkbacks in makeshift theaters like the Woodland, located in a converted church building.
It isn’t lost on Matusik and Cohen that only one block away there is an empty movie theater collecting dust. Their sights are set on either preserving Maplewood Theater or partnering someday with its future owner to reserve some community space for programming. “If we could reopen a theater in the same space, that would be amazing,” Matusik said. “But we’re also realistic and we don’t know if that’s possible — we’re trying to be open-minded.”
The nonprofit movie theater model has proven to be a savior to the industry, sparing iconic theaters from the wrecking ball. In 2004, the Friends of Loew’s were responsible for getting the Loew’s in Jersey City back up and running after it lay dormant for more than a decade. In 2022, Montclair Film saved the Clairidge Cinemas from a similar pandemic-related struggle when it took over operations in 2021.
“Not everyone is aware of this trend of nonprofit movie theaters,” Cohen said. “It’s a new kind of theater.”
In 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed a law allowing nonprofit movie theaters to serve liquor on premises. This could be a major boon to Maplewood Theater, whose owners were previously denied a liquor license. That denial could have prevented Loffredo from moving ahead with a plan for the theater.
Before any partnership can happen at the Maplewood Theater, Matusik and Cohen are first trying to ensure that the theater even survives. There is currently a redevelopment plan making its way through the municipal government. The first draft was revealed last year, but after community pushback, it was revised in March.
Mayor Nancy Adams told the Four Oranges that the plan lacked a Historic Preservation Element that will ensure the facade of the theater is preserved. One final community meeting will be held before the end of the year, Adams said.
But Cohen believes that the plan still lacks important built-in assurances.
“There’s no requirement to include a theater or a community-gathering space,” Cohen said. “If we are giving an incentive to the developer, we should be asking for something in return.”
Adams said the state’s municipal land law prohibits the municipal government from stipulating how the building will be used. “There’s no way to ensure that, because it’s private property,” Adams said. “The redevelopment zone gives the municipality a little more control in negotiations with the redeveloper, but I would doubt that it remains a theater unless someone wants to retain it and has a ton of money to do that.”
In 2022, the Maplewood Village Historic District, which includes the theater, was finally listed on the National Register after a decade-long effort. The listing makes the theater eligible for grants and tax credits for architecturally sensitive renovations. But the landmark designation has no legal teeth to prevent a developer from demolishing it or converting the theater into another use. The best protection for the theater would be to designate the theater a local landmark, according to Daniel Wright, chair of Maplewood’s Historic Preservation Commission.
“If members of the public would like to see it locally designated, we encourage them to write to the Township Committee and the HPC,” Wright said.
Matusik and Cohen are circulating a petition in hopes of swaying elected officials before the redevelopment plan comes to a vote.
The Maplewood Theater was so much more than a local institution. Originally a 1,300-seat playhouse, it became one of the nation’s most prestigious summer-stock stages under the leadership of Tony-award winning producer Cheryl Crawford. For three rollicking years, 1941-1943, Crawford drew Hollywood’s best-known stars, including Paul Robeson and Tallulah Bankhead.
In 1942, Ingrid Bergman starred in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie. Theater critic Edward Southern Hipp, who took credit for Crawford’s choice of play, once wrote about the Maplewood Theater during this era and its untimely demise.
“Miss Crawford had a knack of drawing the best known members of the Actors Equity to Maplewood,” Hipp wrote. “The enterprise might have gone on and on, if it had not been for wartime gas rationing.”
Sign the petition here.
