A community owned and operated cinema, bringing you Digital 3D & 2D movies at affordable prices.
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A community owned and operated cinema, bringing you Digital 3D & 2D movies at affordable prices.
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When the Regent Theatre was first purchased from Kerridge-Odeon in 1977, the new owners, the Pahiatua Repertory Society raised debentures and donations to finance the re-developement of the theatre by dividing the original single, 600 seat auditorium into two separate auditoria: a 220 seat theatre for live performances downstairs in the former stalls area and a 230 cinema upstairs in the former circle area. The existing Erneman 5 projection system was a two-projector change-over system (ex the Regent Theatre Palmerston North, ex the St James' Theatre, Queen St Auckland) with Kaylee carbon-arc lamps. Sound was a mono Western Electric valve double amplifier system. Extensive alterations were made to the stage area with the addition of changing rooms, a make-up room, a green-room as well as wardrobe and property storage facilities.
In the 1980s the old valve sound amplifiers were replaced with a solid state system and a new electric fan-heating system was installed in the auditorium. In the late 1990s, the rows of fixed seats in the downstairs auditorium (originally from the Odeon (formerly the Mayfair) Theatre in Palmerston North) were removed, the floor level was raised and the raked floor was changed to a stepped configuration to allow for tables and chairs on two levels and a flat area at the front to allow for dancing, part of which could be removed during stage productions to access an orchestra pit. In 2000, with the help of local donations and sponsorship and with a grant from the Eastern & Central Community Trust we were able to restore the theatre façade, the main entrance and foyer, including restoring the foyer layout to the original design, new art-deco-pattern carpet, a replica Regent neon sign on the canopy, a spotlight on the facade and restore the decorative neon in the foyer. A new 35mm fully automated 3 tier platter projection system replaced the 65 year old 2 projector manual system which had become incompatible with the new cyan-dye optical film soundtracks and a USL digital sound system replaced the inadequate analogue sound system. In August 2011 we launched a fundraising project to completely refurbish our cinema auditorium and to upgrade our projection system to digital. Donations and sponsorship from local residents and community groups enabled us to purchase and install comfortable new seats, insulate the auditorium ceiling and line the walls with acoustic panels and drapes which improved not only the appearance but also greatly improved the digital sound quality. Also, thanks to a very generous grant from the Waireka Community Trust we can now offer patrons with a disability or in a wheelchair or mobility scooter easy and safe access to our upstairs auditorium via a lift from the street-level cinema foyer. |
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