Colonial Theatre in Belfast, Waldo County, United States | Theatre

Welcome to the Colonial Theatre in Belfast, Maine, United States. The Colonial Theatre is easy to find in beautiful downtown Belfast with the brightly painted facade, neon marquee, and the life-size elephant ?Hawthorne? trumpeting above High Street from the roof.
In the heart of downtown Belfast, close to restaurants, shopping, and the working waterfront, the Colonial Theatre is an old-fashioned, yet modern living example of America?s original downtown movie palaces where the ?Show Starts on the Sidewalk?.
The Colonial Theatre in Maine has offered entertainment to Belfast since 1912, opening on the very day the Titanic set sail. In those days live acts preceded the films so a stage was required in addition to the screen.
For the Colonial, at least, it was smooth sailing until a fire leveled the original building in 1923. The present building was quickly built and ready for business in 1924, but in the interim the Colonial owners rented out the Opera House to continue the presentation of movies. Showing a variety of ?moving pictures? as well as live acts, the shows slowly evolved from a mixed Vaudeville to an all-film format.
During most of its life the Theatre was owned by the Kurson family which operated Theatres all over New England from their base in the Boston Theatre District.
It was during the reign of manager Mr. John Grant, who loved and cared for the Colonial Theatre for over 50 years, that the auditorium was divided for very practical reasons.
To save on heat during the 1970s energy crunch, the hall was shortened by abandoning the stage and moving the screen toward the audience with both doors from the lobby leading into one large but shorter Theatre.
The lobby for a ten year period became a video rental shop capturing another bit of the movie viewing market. In the early 1980s the auditorium being used for movies was twinned, creating two Theatres, thus two choices for movie goers with each of the two doors from the lobby leading into a separate Theatre.
In 1995 the Colonial Theatre was purchased by local residents, Therese Bagnardi and Michael Hurley, from the second generation of Theatre-operating Kursons who at 80 years old, were quite ready to retire. Therese had been considering a career change when her husband , Mike, flipping to the ?for sale? ad in the local newspaper remarked, ?Why don?t you buy the Colonial?? Three days later she did!
Presenting movies for years to come, and looking forward to a Gala Centennial Celebration in 2012!