Roy's Hall
30 Main Street,
Blairstown,
NJ
07825
30 Main Street,
Blairstown,
NJ
07825
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A star is born is playing here this weekend. Tickets are 10 buckaroos.
the theater is now called roy’s hall.
This article indicates that the theater reopened in 2011 as the Historic Blairstown Theatre in 2011, its current name, and that it opened in 1913 as Roy’s Hall and showed silent movies. Its website indicates that it is now a performing arts venue.
www.hbt.com
Forgot this important link – the new home page for the theater
(from the print version of the article – can’t find this webpage via a Google search)
http://wwww.thehbt.com/
Should be great……
View link
Reopening on 5/13/11
small photo at this link:
http://www.northjerseymusic.com/venues/329
This theater will soon open under new ownership, according to the Blairstown fan page on Facebook.
THE PLACE DOESNT LOOK OPEN TO ME..I LIVE IN BLAIRSTOWN
My mistake, it’s richie havens.
richie valens will perform at this venue this year.
Nice photo.
What are the dimensions of the stage and down in the main room including ceiling height.How far away from new york city is it,and what is the price?
Those crazy politicians. It’s mostly a Republican run town with few Democrats and one of the workers for the township committee, Al Davis, might go to jail for what he did with papers and such.
To see photos of the theatre, go to:
http://blairstowntheaterfestival.com/royshall.html
My wife and I ran the theater for twelve months and presented a series of concerts, plays and classic films. There just wasn’t sufficient audience interest to keep it going. It’s a charming space, but the township and county have no interest in supporting it. Too bad.
any pics of this theater????
someone should update this theater to closed since it’s for sale.
this theater will be for sale, according to the express times.
Was owned by Alvin Sloan from the 30s to the 70s. See my last post from the Washington Theatre. /theaters/6644/
Most recently, this theater (now known as the Blairstown Theater Festival at Roy’s Hall) showed Friday the 13th for the first time at the same location where the film was shot. Nothing much has changed since where they shot, except the cars.
In response to a question about the Nous Theatre and its recent inactivity, personal and professional business have called Howard Hain away from Blairstown, New Jersey, so at Howard’s invitation, my wife and I have leased the theatre and will continue to operate it as the Blairstown Theater Festival at Roy’s Hall. Our first concert is on December 16th. At 94, Roy’s Hall is in terrific shape, with extraordinary acoustics, and we will be presenting most concerts, plays and recitals without any amplification. We will also be showing classic and independent films once we get our video projection system up and running. At least for the time being, the Nous Theater is on hold, and Roy’s Hall is back in operation on Blairstown’s Main Street. You can read more about us at www.blairstowntheaterfestival.com
Incidentally, this website is where I first learned about the Nous Theatre and how I contacted Howard. Terrific site.
Hello All,
While in my search to find a theatre to purchase, I came across this post and did a little initial research on this theatre and the town. What I find amazing is that Mr. Hain has purchased this theatre, renovated it and started off strong with good programming. There are many articles floating around in regards to his achievements with the theatre. It appeared he was in for the long haul…however, just a year after his grand project, he is selling??? I find this a bit weird. Usually when someone as dedicated as Mr. Hain seems to be all of a sudden wants to pull out, it could mean only a few things, the top two being: 1) Health problems 2) He over estimated the theatre market around his town. Naturally I am just speculating here, but I am wondering if anyone could shed some light on this and perhaps would know the truth why this gentleman is suddenly pulling the plug on what seemed to be promising future for this theatre.
Thank You,
JG
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), July 7, 2005 p002
In Blairstown, a theater is born; Onetime silent movie house rings with Mozart in auspicious opening. (IN THE TOWNS)
Byline: REBECCA SCHMOYER
Howard Hain remembers the day last December when he came across the old movie house in Blairstown that he and his wife would spend seven months transforming into the Nous Theatre.
It was his wife Laurie’s birthday. While waiting for his car to get an oil change, he decided to take a stroll down Main Street.
He saw an imposing, dingy, gray two-story theater, built in an odd, slightly Asian style. It had a for-sale sign in front.
“I looked at it and thought it was pretty obvious we could do something special here,” said Hain, 33.
That evening, when he picked up his wife, she wanted to know why he was “all smiles,” Hain remembered.
“I told her, ‘I think I’ve found the next 10 years of our lives,’” he said.
Today, there’s no passing Nous Theatre without doing a double-take. The playhouse looms above the shops on Blairstown’s Main Street. It’s painted an exuberant cobalt blue and surrounded by flowers.
“It’s majestic,” said Hain, as he and his wife stood on the theater’s brand new front steps. “It feels good. It feels alive.”
The theater opened for the first time on June 4 for a sold-out performance of Mozart’s “Requiem” featuring tenor Gary Pate, of the Metropolitan Opera, Sohyun Ahn, an award-winning Korean pianist, and the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey. Tickets almost immediately sold out for the same program on June 18, Hain said. The couple hurriedly set up a third performance a week later.
“It’s one of the best stages I’ve ever played,” said Robert Butts, conductor of the Baroque Orchestra. “There’s a wonderful sense of artistry in every corner. The acoustics are marvelous. It’s really great when you are playing music in a space where you feel like you are one with the audience and that the audience is one with you.”
Back in December 2004, the building’s exterior walls were covered in drab gray floor paint. The front steps were full of unwelcoming cracks, and inside was a dark, cavernous void.
But the building, then known as Roy’s Hall, was structurally fine and the price was right. The couple decided it was the place to realize their dream of starting a theater for high-caliber music and drama, said Hain. So they bought it.
“It was like finding an old kingdom that just needed to be dusted off and polished up,” said Hain.
Hain, who studied philosophy before becoming a playwright, named the venue Nous Theatre, after the ancient Greek word for “eternal mind.”
An early photo depicting the building, which was built in 1913 and rebuilt in 1919, shows a silent movie theater with a poster outside advertising a Charlie Chaplin movie.
Nearly everyone now seems pleased with the results of the couple’s hard work and vision, even the building’s former owner – Dirk Swaneveld, principal of Belvidere High School.
Swaneveld bought the building about 11 years ago in a condition of total disrepair and overhauled its heating and plumbing. He wanted to sell it, but didn’t want to see it become another real estate office.
“I can’t be more pleased. My wife and I ran several summer productions with kids in there,” said Swaneveld. “I have always felt it was designed and built as a theater and it needed to stay a theater.”
The walls inside the entrance are now painted a deep yellow. A hallway with red floors and blue rails leads into the theater, which has 192 vintage seats reupholstered in bright red. A red velvet curtain falls in folds across the stage, which is empty except for a new Yamaha concert grand piano.
Laurie Hain, 32, currently teaches middle school science in Union City. She has plans to start a children’s theater workshop at the playhouse.
“We’re just putting the finishing touches on it,” she said.
Howard Hain, who had two plays produced in San Francisco in 2000 and 2002, plans to stage his play “My Brother’s Keeper” at the theater in October. He hopes to bring opera, jazz and drama to the theater and would like the space to be home to a chorus and instrumental ensemble.
“Our attitude is we’ll treat each show as if it’s the only show we’ll ever do,” he said.
Butts, who lives in Rockaway, already has future projects in the works for his orchestra at the venue.
“The singers and musicians are excited. And I’m perhaps the most excited of all,” he added.
The Hains spent time living in New York, San Francisco and Rome before they bought a home in Great Meadows last summer. But they both are a little stunned by how quickly the theater has taken on a life of its own.
“Everything’s been on warp speed. Our lives have changed so much,” he said. “But we love it. I think we’ll be around for a while.”
For more information or to order tickets, call (908) 362-1399 or visit www.noustheatre.com
Yep, CT
http://cinematreasures.org/news/14893_0_1_0_C/
I read somewhere recently that this theater is for sale.