City out, private business in at Theatre N

After a 14-year run, the curtain is coming down on the city of Wilmington's foray in the movie business.

Theatre N, the downtown art house theater located in the Buccini/Pollin Group-owned Nemours Building will no longer be managed by the mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs as it has since it first opened.

Instead, The Mill, which operates a 12,000-square-foot co-working space on the fourth floor of the Nemours Building, will lease the theater from Buccini/Pollin Group and manage it.

And in a coup for theater fans, original theater manager Beverly Zimmermann, who ran Theatre N from 2002 until Mayor Williams took office at the beginning of 2013, will return as a curator, selecting which first-run films will be screened.

Joining Zimmermann and The Mill will be downtown Wilmington-based commercial film firm The Kitchen, which will market and advertise the theater.

The movie house, which abruptly closed last week leaving a trail of upset movie-goers behind, could re-open as soon as mid-October, according to new management.

"There's new enthusiasm here. Working with this crew, the excitement is palpable," says Zimmermann, who also works as director of administration for The Grand. (The Grand is also part of the partnership but in a mentorship role alongside up-and-comers The Mill and The Kitchen.)

Sarah Lamb, director of design and marketing for Buccini/Pollin Group, says the company was approached by The Mill group earlier this year, spurring change.

"[They] saw a need and desire improve on the management model of Theater N, and in the interest of the theater as an asset both to the film-going community and to the building, BPG decided to pursue the opportunity," she said in a statement. "We are optimistic about the future of Theater N and confident that the new operating group will do a great job making the theater an exciting and more diverse cultural destination for its existing patrons and new ones as well."

The city's director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, Ken Briscoe, did not return calls this week about the city losing management of the theater. Alexandra Coppadge, spokesperson for Mayor Williams, would not comment.

Under the city's recent management, complaints at the theater have grown with problems stretching from crashed websites and missing movie listings to the theater being closed when films were scheduled. And some customers say they received no response when they complained.

"Reliability is a huge thing. There will be movies every weekend at relied upon times," says filmmaker Zach Phillips, creative director of The Kitchen, which will market and advertise the theater. "We're not about animosity toward anybody here, but for whatever reason the theater has lost attendance."

With the new team in place, the theater has already been re-painted and new digital equipment has been ordered to bring the theater up to Digital Cinema Initiatives standards. The move to comply with the standard specifications that many major motion picture studios demand could open the door to Theatre N showing films that it never could before.

"We weren't able to get some films because of that and now hopefully we can," says Zimmermann, who will be joined at Theatre N by new technical director Bob Weir, who has the same job title at The Playhouse on Rodney Square.

The Mill co-founder Robert Herrera opened his company six months ago, offering workspace rentals in the Nemours Building. The Mill will use the theater as an auditorium and event space when not open as Theatre N.

Herrera says the idea, which came about over months of talks with Buccini/Pollin Group, was too good to pass up: "I'm a big believer in collaborations and when I see opportunity, it's hard for me to walk away. To bring in The Kitchen, The Grand and The Mill together to do something that will help rejuvenate downtown -- when I latch onto an idea like that, I can't stop."

In time, movie fans could find a newly-built bar at Theatre N, as well as special screenings of 35mm film prints, which the theater can now show thanks to new equipment. A membership program is also planned and a new website, theatren.com, is up and running.

The 221-seat theater opened 14 years ago, long before Penn Cinema Riverfront opened its doors, finally bringing a commercial theater to the city. In the years since, Theatre N has enjoyed a small, but fierce following from area film fans who remember the days when the city had up to seven theaters in operation.

And now they will have their own funky, indie theater back, showing films on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays just like always.

"I [was] disappointed in the closure because the theater was one of the things that made Wilmington feel like a larger, more happening city," says Pike Creek's Hallie Sianni. "It was fun to come downtown at night and have a drink before or after the movie at a nearby bar.

"It's a gem."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).