State Theater

807 Washington Street,
Stoughton, MA 02072

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Daytz Theatre Enterprises Corp.

Firms: Funk and Wilcox

Styles: Atmospheric, Italian Renaissance

Previous Names: South Shore Theatre, Stoughton Cinema Pub

Phone Numbers: Box Office: 781.344.4566

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News About This Theater

State Theater

The State Theater was opened in 1930. By 1970 it was operated by Daytz Theatre Enterprises Corp. This historic balconied theatre in the center of Stoughton recently functioned as a cinema pub, but with the bulk of the seating intact. Recent popular hits played here, generally for one or two week runs.

It closed December 2, 2007 and is now waiting for someone to buy the theatre and hopefully re-open it as the State Theater. It has since lost its marquee and blade sign and the decoration on the facade has been removed and is now bare brick.

Contributed by Gerald A. DeLuca

Recent comments (view all 37 comments)

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on April 22, 2011 at 11:51 am

The Quincy Patriot Ledger of Wed April 20 had an article “Stoughton Projects get a Closer Look” about a meeting which took place on Tuesday covering the reopening of the State Theatre and the reopening of the closed-up Stoughton railroad station. Those at the meeting were able to tour the theater. The article states that the STARS group is “using the theater and staging productions there now.” I don’t know how true that statement is.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on February 26, 2013 at 10:47 am

The Quincy Patriot Ledger of Feb. 25, 2013 has an article “New Group Making Bid to reopen State Theatre” by Teresa Franco. Apparently, the Save the State Theatre group has morphed into the Friends of the State Theatre. (note how these groups use the old original theater name). The Friends has recently signed a 20-year lease with the building owner, C&V Realty Trust. The lease calls for no rent, in exchange for renovating the theater. They have a budget of $2M. The Friends group has 18 members, including the Little Theatre of Stoughton which gave the final performance at the theater in 2007. The Friends is led by town Selectman John Stagnone.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on February 14, 2014 at 11:57 am

Someone Who Was There tells me that the name of the State’s architect on the surviving blueprints is Funk & Wilcox, the firm which designed the Strand Theatre in the Uphams Corner section of Dorchester.

jaboschen
jaboschen on February 23, 2014 at 7:51 am

I have some photos of the surviving blue prints, and the architects indeed were Funk and Wilcox. It’s interesting, as Ron stated, this firm designed the Strand Theater, as well as the Franklin Park Theater (also in Dorchester), the Ware (aka Cabot Street Cinema) in Beverly, and the Somerville Theatre in Somerville; all of which have a similar style. The Stoughton State, on the other hand, was an atmospheric style theater which utilized an Italian theme. It would be interesting to find some original photos of the auditorium to see how the firm designed their atmospheric theatre, and how it compares to these other venus.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on June 17, 2016 at 10:04 am

There will be an open house at the State Th. on Sat. 6/18 from 10AM. They have open houses occasionally to maintain community support. Work continues on various projects inside waiting for the day when major financial help arrives. Meanwhile, Avocados, a popular new Mexican restaurant in Whitman, is about to open a location in Stoughton, right next to the State’s entrance.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on June 17, 2016 at 10:11 am

Are they presenting any live shows or movies at this theatre while working on it?

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on June 20, 2016 at 10:12 am

Ron- I’m not sure about that- I have never seen anything listed here in recent years. One activity inside is “deconstruction” – removal of anything that does not fit in to a restored theater. Anyone who comes by while there is a work party inside is welcome to look around.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on September 19, 2016 at 6:43 am

I recently visited the State Theatre – check out some photos and a short write up at After the Final Curtain

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on October 23, 2018 at 10:51 am

Bad news about the State appeared yesterday in the Quincy Patriot Ledger: an article “Stoughton May Seize Historic Theater” by Ben Berke. I had not realized that the State was sold about 2 years ago. The previous owner had been sympathetic to the “Friends of the State Theatre” group. But the new owner is tired of the stalled attempt (stalled due to lack of funds) to restore and reopen the house. He wants to demolish the building. The town is considering acquiring the theater thru eminent domain proceedings using Community Preservation funds. But this is a complicated procedure and requires voter approval. So the situation does not look good.

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