Celebrating 100 years at the Fallon Theatre – with Big Improvements

by Rachel Dahl --  Five years ago, a small band of community members got together and got serious about saving the historic downtown theatre. This little band of true-believers along with the volunteers who have come to help them, have written grants, painted walls, re-build chairs, learned to run the projector, made nachos and every other little thing that comes with a passion-project like this. Built in 1920, by famed architect Frederic DeLongchamps, the old theatre is going through a renaissance at the hands of these resourceful community members. Recently, one of the biggest improvements has been to replace the old, cast iron pipes throughout the building that over the years had cracked allowing for a most interesting smell. For those of us who remember blessedly going nose-blind several minutes after getting settled in our seats, there are no more unpleasant smells. And to add to the comfort of movie-goers, the committee spent most of last week watching new seats being installed in the lower theatre. Stuart Richardson, who has been involved in the theatre restoration project from the beginning said the committee was able to get their hands on these great new seats for $10 per chair when a church in Reno replaced their seating. “Normally they’re $250 a seat for theatre seats, it was a deal we couldn’t pass up.” Richardson said the theatre group received a donation from the Fallon Nugget to cover the costs of the seats. “Nine of us from Fallon Community Theatre, Inc. took out all the old seats in an hour and a half,” said Richardson. He adds that there are 47 inches between the seats which allows for plenty of room between the rows and still gives 130 seats in the lower theatre. “We bought 153 seats and we’re thinking about taking out a row in the upper theatre and replacing them which would give us over 130 seats up here as well – a total of 260 seats between both theatres.” The group will continue making improvements with a new roof top on their list. “We have to replace this sheetrock (referring to part of the ceiling in the upper theatre) but we have to make sure the roof isn’t leaking up above.” Once the new sheetrock is installed the group will repaint and then install a new screen. According to Richardson the group originally looked at the theatre restoration as a five-year project that would cost roughly $500,000. “We’re looking at a ten-year project that will be closer to $1 million,” he laughed, “but we’re in it for the long haul and the community will have a beautiful space, downtown that they can use for movies, plays, concerts.” Members of the Fallon Community Theatre, Inc., organization are: President: Stuart Richardson, Vice-President: Karla Kent, Secretary: Glen Perazzo, Treasurer: Nancy Upham, Board Members: Mike Berney, Gary Smith and Kelli Perez. To join the theatre restoration efforts or to make a contribution, see the website at www.fallontheatre.com.       Never miss a meeting or community event – keep an eye on the community calendar at https://www.thefallonpost.org/events/ If you like what we’re doing, please support our effort to provide local, independent news and contribute to The Fallon Post, your online news source for all things Fallon.