Art Theater Projector Repaired

After nearly a week without a working projector, downtown Champaign’s Art Theater Co-Op is ready to show movies again.

Manager Austin McCann says the theater had to go dark a few days ago, when their hundred-thousand-dollar digital movie projector malfunctioned.

Until a technician could come and make repairs, the Art made do with some movie-free events.  For instance, on Monday night, McCann says an audience of a few dozen came to listen to old-time radio dramas, like “Suspense” and Orson Welles’ classic “War of the Worlds” broadcast.

"It was a kind of trippy, funny sight to see people sitting in a darkened room looking at nothing, but listening," McCann said. "But people loved it. I mean everyone who came out said, you know, they wanted us to try doing that again in the future.”

McCann says their projector malfunction was a preventable one, and he hopes it won’t be repeated in the future. He says the Art can only afford one digital projector, and no longer has a complete setup for showing fashioned movies the old-fashioned way, from celluloid.

Wednesday at the Art, the main feature is “T2: Trainspotting”, with the Michael Jordan – Looney Tunes comedy “Space Jam” as the late night show.