Senate Theater celebrates 100 years — and plots ahead
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Senate Theater at 6424 Michigan Ave. Photo: Courtesy of the Detroit Theater Organ Society
Volunteers running the century-old Senate Theater in southwest Detroit are plotting its future as many indie movie houses close.
Why it matters: It's a place for in-person connection and historic preservation that returns moviegoing to its social-event roots, Lindsay Robillard, the Senate's senior programmer, tells Axios.
State of play: The nonprofit theater is known for its 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ, originally from the Fisher Theater, and is one of few venues still showing organ-accompanied films.
- The venue hosts movies, concerts and community events — and gives organ chamber tours.
Driving the news: The Senate is celebrating 100 years on Oct. 7 with a glamorous, Roaring '20s-style screening of the same film it opened with in 1926.
- Patrons in festive garb will watch the silent film "The Volga Boatman," with live organ accompaniment by Detroit Theater Organ Society president Lance Luce.
- Doors at 6:30pm and film at 7:30pm. Tickets: $15.
Then, Saturday, Oct. 10, the Party of the Century will feature a vaudeville-inspired entertainment lineup with tap dancing, burlesque, circus performers and live music.
- Doors at 7pm and entertainment at 8pm. Tickets: $25–$150.
Flashback: The Senate's Mighty Wurlitzer — the eighth-largest ever built — left the Fisher Theater in 1961. These were designed so a single musician could replicate the sounds of an entire orchestra.
- An organ enthusiast named George Orbits bought the organ and created a club with friends that became the Detroit Theater Organ Society.
- The club restored the Senate Theater, reopening it in 1964 after it had closed in 1955. The society continues today.
Zoom in: The Senate avoids many costs because it owns its building and is volunteer-run, Robillard says, but it's in need of major repairs like roof replacement and water incursion.
- "I call it our beloved, nearly 100-year-old money pit," she adds.
- The nonprofit is seeking donations and volunteers.
- It's also shaping its future through a project with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center and pursuing a National Register of Historic Places designation.
The bottom line: "I hope people take away that we all have a role in building the future of film and music culture that brings us together," Robillard says. "To reflect on our past and build a future that we want."