Phobias a photo show about fear in Jamaica Plain.

This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in 2024. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at:  The Colonial Theatre in Boston is one of the last real-deal playhouses in the country. Built in 1900 by Clarence Blackall, it opened with Ben-Hur—complete with live horses on stage, because why not start with chaos? Winston Churchill was reportedly in the audience on opening night, probably wondering what kind of people put livestock in their cultural institutions.

Workshop at the Strand Theatre in Clinton MA

This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in 2025. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at:  The Commodore Hull Theatre opened on May 4, 1927, on Elizabeth Street, extending through the block to Minerva Street, in Derby, CT. It was built with a seating capacity of approximately 1,270. The theater was named for Isaac Hull, who was born in Derby in 1773 and later commanded the USS Constitution during the War of 1812…

This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in 2025. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at: The Capitol Theatre stood at 1122 S. Main Street on the south side of Rockford, Illinois. Built in 1928 by Anthony Domino and Theodore Ingrassia at a reported cost of $175,000, it seated approximately 1,000 patrons. Rockford architect Wybe J. van der Meer designed the building in a Spanish Colonial style. The facade featured buff colored brick, a red Spanish tile roof, and four terra cotta portrait medallions mounted high on the front elevation.

This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in 2025. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at:  PPAC sits on Weybosset Street in downtown Providence and first opened in 1928 as Loew’s State Theatre. Designed by Rapp & Rapp—basically the go-to architects for movie palaces in the ‘20s—it was built for the Loew’s Theatres chain at the height of the movie palace boom. It opened with Excess Baggage starring William Haines, but the real draw that night was the building itself.

The Stanley Theatre opened on May 26, 1927 in Newark, NJ. It was built for the Stanley Fabian circuit and designed by Newark architect Frank Grad. The theater seated roughly 2,000 people and was built as an atmospheric movie palace with a Spanish courtyard interior. Its facade used Spanish inspired details, including stucco, terra cotta ornament, tile, and wrought iron.

View from the rear of the Inglewood Fox auditorium. The Inglewood Fox Theatre opened on March 31, 1949. It closed in 1988, and was added to the National Historic Register in late 2012. For more info about the theater check out the Inglewood Fox Theatre Alliance:

View of the auditorium from the main level. The Fox Theatre in Fullerton, CA opened in 1925. Designed by Raymond M. Kennedy, it was a sister theater to the Egyptian, and Chinese Theatres. The Fox closed in 1987, and was scheduled for demolition until a campaign to restore the building was launched in 2000. Read more about the theater at:

Post 3 in the Snapshot Series - Occasionally in my travels I come across a theater that I can’t find a lot of information on, or that I only have a chance to photograph for an hour or two. They’re still beautiful and fascinating, so they definitely have a place on After the Final Curtain

View from the balcony of the auditorium. The OKLA Theatre opened on July 10, 1931 in McAlester, Oklahoma. It was built on the site of the Palace Theatre, which burned down in December of 1930. Wallace Wilkerson, the owner of the theater building, hired architect W. Scott Dunn to build a new theater on a budget of $50,000. Dunn converted the existing cinema walls into a partial…

In light of the recent demolition of the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, I thought I’d post an update for some of the theaters I’ve visited over the years. View from the balcony of the Loew's Kings Theatre during renovation. The Loew’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn has undergone a $94 million restoration, and will reopen as a performing arts center in late 2014/early 2015.

This theater is not abandoned, but I had the chance to shoot it late last year, and I wanted to share the images with everyone. View from the main level of the auditorium. In the early 1920s, the Paramount-Publix theater chain planned to open five theaters in the New York City area. However, in December of 1927 those plans were put on hold due to an agreement with the Loew's Corporation.

Over the years, I’ve come across a number of vintage photographs while researching blog posts for After the Final Curtain. One resource is the Theatre Historical Society of America's American Theatre Architecture Archive. With their permission I was able to combine our photographs to create these "rephotographs" showcasing a glimpse of what I have seen over the years. The composite of these images illustrates the rise and fall of these buildings and the potential for what they could become again, if restored.

View of the auditorium from the balcony. The Russell Theatre opened on December 4, 1930 in Maysville, Kentucky. Plans to build the theater were announced in 1929 by Col. J. Barbour Russell, a local businessman. Russell hired the architectural firm of Frankel and Curtis to design the theater. It was built on the site of a grocery warehouse owned by the Russell family at a cost of around $200,000.

View of the auditorium from the balcony. The Madison Theatre opened on October 16, 1920 in Peoria, Illinois. It was built by architect Frederic J. Klein (known for Rockford, Illinois' Coronado Theatre) for the Robinson Amusement Company. The 1,739 seat theater was originally designed in the Adamesque style and was remodeled in 1936 in the simpler art deco style to ease the maintenance of the building.

View of the balcony auditorium after multiplexing. The Fabian Theatre opened on December 14, 1925 in Paterson, New Jersey. Designed by Paterson architect Fred Wesley Wentworth for theater magnate Jacob Fabian, the 3,228 seat theater was built in a Sullivanesque style with a two ton chandelier, tile floors, murals, and Turkish baths in the basement.

Introducing: the Snapshot Series - Occasionally in my travels I come across a theater that I can't find a lot of information on, or that I only have a chance to photograph for an hour or two. They're still beautiful and fascinating, so they definitely have a place on After the Final Curtain.

Lyric Theatre Birmingham, AL. Day two was spent photographing the Lyric Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. The Lyric opened in 1914 as a vaudeville theater, and was eventually converted to show films. More information can be found at © Matthew Lambros and After the Final Curtain, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

View of the Jayhawk Theatre from the balcony. The next theater I visited was the Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, Kansas. The Jayhawk opened in August of 1926, and has been closed since May 1976. For more information visit the website of the organization trying to restore the theater: © Matthew Lambros and After the Final Curtain, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The chandelier was removed when the theater was used as a church. The fourth theater I visited was the Booth Theatre in Independence, Kansas. The Booth opened in 1927 and closed in 1980. It was used as a church for a few years before closing for good. In 1991 the Booth Theatre Foundation was started to renovate and reuse the theater.

View of the auditorium from the balcony. The next stop on the trip was the Okla Theatre in McAlester, Oklahoma. The Okla opened on July 10, 1931 and closed on September 4, 1989. The city of McAlester is currently trying to restore and reopen the theater. For more information check out their website: © Matthew Lambros and After the Final Curtain, 2013.

View from the balcony of the Berry Theatre. After making a quick stop at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to drop off some of my road trip companions, I headed over to the Berry Theatre in Fort Worth. The theater opened as the White Theatre in the early 1940s, and was eventually renamed the Berry Theatre after the street in resides on.

The Maxbilt Theatre originally opened on July 6, 1929. Built by Russian Jewish immigrant and real estate developer Max Silberman, the theater replaced the New Mountain Casino, a multi-purpose venue that had burned earlier that year. The casino, built in 1910, housed a soda fountain, bowling alley, office spaces, and a second-floor theater marked by an oversized Palladian window. After the fire, Silberman purchased the site, demolished the remains, and invested $60,000 to construct a modern entertainment venue with retail spaces.

The Alexandria Theatre opened its doors on November 26, 1923, with Douglas MacLean’s Going Up. Built at a cost of $350,000 by Oppenheimer and Levin, and designed by the Reid Brothers, it was originally styled in Egyptian Revival—a nod to the famed Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. A 1941 remodel replaced most of the original decor with a sleek Moderne look, although some of the Egyptian elements survived beneath the surface.

Auditorium, Adams Theatre - Newark, NJ I’m making a shift on the print side. Everything 12x18 and under is moving in-house. I’ll be printing them myself. This gives me full control over paper, color, and consistency, and keeps the work closer to how I want it to look. Print runs will stay limited, but this lets me be more intentional with how they’re produced and released.

The Broadway Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the city's historic theaters, originally designed by local architects Joseph & Joseph. It opened in May 1915 at 816 E. Broadway as a vaudeville house and featured classic Beaux-Arts architecture, ornate plasterwork, and seating for around 800 people. A Wurlitzer 2-manual, 7-rank organ provided accompaniment for silent films and stage acts, making it a key entertainment venue in early 20th-century Louisville.

The Fox West Theatre opened as the West Theatre on March 16, 1908, with a performance of The Bondman. It was built by Ed West, a Trinidad businessman, and designed by local architects I.H. and W.M. Rapp, who were related to the founders of Rapp & Rapp—the firm behind major theaters like the Uptown in Chicago and Kings in Brooklyn.

The Columbia Theatre opened on November 29, 1922, with 1,732 seats and a construction cost of $350,000 (about $6 million today). It was built by the Columbia Amusement Company, which also operated theaters in Warren, Erie, and Salamanca. Architect Arland W. Johnson of New York City designed it as a true vaudeville palace—complete with a marble staircase, full stage, orchestra pit, seven dressing rooms, and elaborate plasterwork throughout the auditorium.

View of the auditorium from the orchestra level Bell’s Opera House officially opened on November 20, 1895, after just seven months of construction in Hillsboro, Ohio. It was built on South High Street, on a site once known as Rats’ Row, with a nearly 1,000-seat second-floor auditorium. The total construction cost came in at $40,000—about $1.5 million in today’s dollars—funded primarily by local manufacturer and philanthropist C.S.

This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in February 2025. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at:  View from the side of the balcony. The Sampson Theatre in Penn Yan, New York originally opened on October 12, 1910. Built by local benefactor Dr. Frank Sampson, it was designed as a vaudeville house and entertainment venue.

Image Courtesy of the Obama Presidential Library When I first photographed historic theaters, I learned that much of their power comes from what we don’t see — the rooms behind the walls, the quiet rituals that make them more than just places to sit and watch a screen. The White House Family Theater was one of those spaces.