Gem Theatre featured on NBC Nightly News Telecast

posted by Alto on March 23, 2009 at 10:45 am

KANNAPOLIS, NC — The “Making a Difference” segment on March 19th’s “NBC Nightly News” featured Kannapolis, North Carolina’s historic Gem Theatre. Its “Recession Buster” movie screenings, which made local headlines in the Cabarrus County area, are now national news.

The shows, scheduled on Wednesday evenings, routinely sell out the theatre’s 900 seats with free admission and sharply-discounted concessions prices. According to the feature story, textile mills closed several years ago, resulting in a local unemployment rate as high as 10%. The Gem’s General Manager, Steve Morris, says it’s his way of giving back to a community that has supported the historic theatre for many years, through good times and bad.

The Depression-era, Art Deco showplace dates back to 1936, when movie entertainment routinely served as an inexpensive means of “escapism” during troubled economic times.

See mention of the telecast in the local print media:
http://www2.independenttribune.com/content/2009/mar/19/191047/gem-theatre-nbc-nightly-news-tonight/

See video of the telecast:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29782123

Theaters in this post

• Gem Theatre