Roots Comedy Ramble, movie nights planned this spring
Ninety years ago, the country’s only Dutch atmospheric theater opened in downtown Bellefontaine, featuring a Flemish-style gable brick exterior and a unique auditorium interior depicting a 17th century Dutch cityscape complete with turning windmills and tulips in window boxes of the building facades.
The Holland Theatre, built by Schine Enterprises, is entering its ninth decade this year with a unique slate of spring activities, after weathering the difficulties of 2020 for performance arts venues and capacity restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After shutting down for much of the spring and summer of last year, the venue at 127 E. Columbus Ave. opened for several shows in the fall at a 15 percent capacity, or approximately 90 seats in the 604-seat theater, which also underwent an extensive $1.6 million renovation and historical restoration project in 2019.
According to current health regulations, the Holland Theatre now has been able to boost its capacity to 25 percent, or approximately 150 seats, Managing Director Chris Westhoff and Logan County Landmark Preservation Inc. President Kris Swisher said.
Later this month, the theater kicks off a spring movie series on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, beginning Thursday, April 29, with a showing of Best in Show. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. each of the movie nights, and showings begin at 7 p.m.
The Sandlot is featured May 13, followed by Field of Dreams on May 27, The Rock of Gibraltar on June 10 and Broken: Deadly Dressers on June 24.
Westhoff said the showings are free for Holland Theatre members and by donation for other community members in attendance. Sponsors for each of the evenings — Ameriprise, Citizen’s Federal Savings & Loan, Dr. Grant and Cheryl Varian and Tanger’s Furniture — selected their favorite movies to be shown.
Swisher also related that Windmill Production is sponsoring The Rock of Gibraltar showing for a special reason, as a short segment of the movie actually was filmed at the Holland Theatre about five years ago by director Michael Pharis. .
“It’s a wonderful film and it’s so amazing that the Holland Theatre gets to be a part of that legacy,” she said.
Then beginning May 7, the theater begins another new offering, its Roots Comedy Ramble series, on the first Friday of each month during the summertime.
Mark Larsen will host the three stand-up comedy evenings featuring nationally-known comedians, with sessions that also take place June 4 and July 9, beginning at 7:30 p.m. and with doors opening at 7 p.m. Larsen has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and also served as a writer for a number of shows, including The Drew Carey Show, Ellen and Real Time with Bill Maher.
Each of the comedy sessions are backed by a live band. The May 7 show features comedians Jeff Jena, Tiffany Barber and Brett Eastburn.
“It’s a really eclectic group of comedians from all over the U.S., and a new way of doing programming for us,” Westhoff said. “Larsen is helping to select the talent, and we’re excited for the three entertaining evenings.
“We’ll have a ‘ramble’ as we’ve called it, at the conclusion of each performance to give the comedians time to interact more with the audience about their artistic processes and to answer questions.”
Tickets for the comedy sessions are $25 each, or a special discount is offered for all three nights for the price of two, Westhoff said.
During the summer, the theater will offer a youth residency in July, and a Mad River Theater Works production also will take the stage at the Holland Theatre that month as well.
Theater representatives continue to plan for a full fall line-up, which will include rescheduled shows from 2020, the managing director said.
“For individuals who were holding tickets from any of those 2020 shows that were canceled, they should have received an e-mail about rescheduled dates,” he said. “Anyone with any further inquires is invited to call our box office or e-mail [email protected].”
Holland Theatre members will receive first access to tickets as they become available for the new season of shows.
While attending shows, guests are encouraged to wear face coverings while entering and in common areas, but are permitted to remove their face coverings while at their seats, the theater representatives said.
The concessions and bar area will be open as well, and there will be increased access to handwashing and hand-sanitizing spaces.
Tickets for upcoming shows are sold in groups of two and four, and also individually, to ensure that best practices for social distancing can be maintained through the theater’s new seating chart.
Online ticket sales are encouraged, with tickets available at www.thehollandtheatre.org. The box office can be reached at (937) 592-9002.