Theatre 1

Let’s start out front!

Yeah! Look up! Look waaaaay up! To see the ROXY classic old timey movie theatre sign. 

This theatre became the ROXY designed after the 1930s!  Fine, you want proof?

So over the years, it had multiple owners, and had some closures along the way, and according to one online source, a fire in 1945, but eventually the community jumped in and took over. They’ve been operating it since 1988 and owned since 1989! (but you already read that)

So let’s take one more look at the outside, before we go inside!

Okay ONE MORE!  This is our dog ROXY in front of the ROXY!

Come on in!

Here’s where you buy your tickets – WAIT, it’s about to get much cooler!

It’s so awesome when theatres have old movie stuff in the theatre.

You know, it’s like, THESE MOVIES ACTUALLY PLAYED HERE!  Cool Cool Cool!

Concession! Through this archway to snacks! WAIT, you’re about to see something that will blow your mind!

Volunteers help keep prices pretty darn reasonable!

Are you kidding me?! Two bucks for popcorn!? You could drive to Neepawa for a movie and save money over going to one of those VIP theatres.

The mini donuts were “Coming soon” but apparently are here now!

This lady here on the right is Shannon, and she’s been volunteering for 25 years!  The lady on the left is Marilyn (she said she was going to spell it but we were side-tracked) she says she’s been volunteering since “When did Jurassic Park come out?”  (Which Jurassic Park, we're not sure)

While Shannon makes popcorn, we can explain that there are teams of volunteers.  “Captains” make sure their volunteers show up and get help if someone can’t make it.  July 9^th, 2019 there was an open house and volunteer drive with prizes.(that's where everyone learned about the new devices for the hearing and visually impaired, AND the upgraded lights and mics and automatic door opener) If there are enough volunteers, many could get away with only doing two shifts a year! But many others grab “Pick-up shifts”. Anyway, even if you live far away, you could do a couple of volunteer shifts! (uh, and you get to see a movie!!!)

Check out the view from the top!

Okay, so this is a 247 seat theatre on the main floor... (give or take as they have adjusting seating for wheelchairs and scooters etc)

but there’s another 100 seats on the upper level! (That number is different from other sites, but was verified by Kate the board chair.) Thanks Captain Kevin for showing us around! He was amazing!

Okay, let's go back down the stairs...

So we can show you the reverse view

That's from the stage looking out.

Old Style lights - Awesome New sound!

When the community needed to raise funds to “go digital” around 2013, they not only met the goal, they surpassed it!  So they improved the sound system too!  And you can hear it!  Amazing old theatre that's already built for sound, PLUS state of the art sound equipment, means you are going to want to stay till the last note of the credits.

Wanna see the Projection room???

We don’t do this too often, because, well, many people don’t want to see how the cake is made, they just want to eat it! But this juxtaposition of super cool old theatre...

LOOK AT THIS COOL PROJECTION ROOM DOOR!!!

and new technology, was too much for Lora to pass up. Plus, projectionist ISABELLA LET US!

(And if you're wondering, yes, they can do 3D movies)

Getting the BLUES! 

Cool old things like this are the best! Subtle touches or just qwirky things that make a theatre it's own beast. If we took pictures of ALL the cool things we saw in this theatre, then we would have been there for another hour! (Kevin and his crew were super awesome, but we wouldn't want to overstay our welcome!!!)

Side note: the floors are SUPER CLEAN!.

But here’s a question for you…Who the heck is this guy?

Nobody there knew for sure. Lora guessed young Charlton Heston, and I guessed young Richard Burton. There's another one on the other side, and you'll just have to go see if you can guess who *that* is!

More than just movies!

This is an old theatre. During the winter, movies are played on weekends (including a once a month matinee). But during summer, movies are played on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So there's opportunity to rent the theatre to play video games on the big screen, or have a concert or an event... hey, let's go BACKSTAGE!!!!

They do plays at least two times a year at this theatre.

There's a Neepawa Film Festival in August! The Public access TV people used to rent some of the space to do production and editing work, You could have a big business type meeting here..........

And this should scare the pants off you…in Oct, 2018, they had a haunted house in the basement!!!!

Zoinks! Down here!!!! (obviously they dressed it up a bit, but talk about some good raw material!!!!)

This is like if "SAW" and "The Exorcist" had a baby!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

SPOOKY FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should you go?  YES! The Roxy Theatre in Neepawa is awesome!

Here are some links to find out more!

http://neepawaroxy.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/neepawaroxy/

By the way, in case you missed it, we saw “A Dog’s Journey” 7:30p show!