Lynn Sampson Recommends: THE PROSPECT THEATER PROJECT

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

THE PROSPECT THEATER PROJECT

by Lynn Sampson

Any self-respecting community has at least three items: a symphony, a ballet company, and its own professional theater group. In the town that hosts the world’s largest winery, there can be found a fine symphony orchestra, an excellent ballet troupe and, as of only a decade ago, a strong theatrical enterprise. Having graduated from a modest 30-seat embryo, the malleable, black box space of Modesto’s Prospect Theater in its reincarnation is in downtown Modesto. It is a worthy partner to the Modesto Symphony and Central West Ballet. The company hosts challenging undertakings in its six show seasons. Neal Simon and Shakespeare are given equally lavish attention. Admission prices are modest and the space is warm and intimate. Its arrival in the center of town completes the city’s cultural trifecta.

Prospect Theater Project
1214 K Street

Modesto, California

(209) 549-9341

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In a Galaxy Near by...

by Lynn Sampson

Movie theaters have been declared passé and been given up for dead four times in the last 100 years. The first was 1928 when silent films went to sound. No less than the great screen actress Lillian Gish predicted their demise and refused for many years to make the transition. She felt that acting in talkies would betray her non-English speaking fans and ruin what had become an internationally accessible art form of nonverbal pantomime. She, of course, was wrong. Movies didn’t die. They thrived.

Thirty years later the rise of television was suppose to kill cinema. Who would go to the trouble of going out to an expensive movie theater if you could have all the entertainment you wanted at home for free? Apparently most everyone would. Movies flourished.

Then came video. Once again the apocalypse was prophesied. Once again it failed to happen. Video ignited a vast explosion of films, and re-energized studios.

Now it is the internet which brings doom. The movie industry is in a state of alarm. The web will be the downfall of everything. This will finally be the killer. None of that, however, will happen. It won’t happen because no matter what comes along, people will always crave what movie theaters offer. No living room, no matter how expensively equipped, has the ambience of a 500-seat movie theater. Experiencing movies surrounded by people is rewarding and stimulating. For very human reasons, the need to rub shoulders with the masses, whether at a Fourth of July parade, an NFL game or a crowded movie house on Saturday night is universal. It is, of course, the superior product movies offer that matters most. Theaters have wonderfully evolved. Sound has gone from monaural to stereo to 4 to 5 to 6 to 7 to 8 channels. Screens have gone 40 to 60 to 75 feet in size. Theater floor plans have gone from narrow tunnels to wide ovals to stadiums. None of this can be had in anyone’s home no matter how palatial. The only place you can get the rush and electricity of a crowd, the full throated magnificence of sound that surrounds and envelopes you, and see your favorite stars 30-feet tall is the good old, reliable anachronism we call a movie house.

In case you hadn’t noticed, movie ticket prices are approaching $10. If you are going to spend a small fortune to see a movie, you might as well do it at a place with comfortable seating. I recently watched a movie at a large Cineplex in my hometown. The seating made me believe I was trapped in a Greyhound bus. I could not avoid my knees knocking against the back of the seat in front of me. After two hours of this cramped discomfort, I resolved never to return. My suggestion is that you avoid that as well. I encourage you to go to the Galaxy Theater in Riverbank. Its seating is wide and spacious. A two-and-a-half-hour movie will not tax your comfort and the sound and picture quality are first rate. Why suffer elsewhere? Go to the Galaxy and have it all.

The best is the Galaxy chain. One of their flagship theaters is located in Riverbank, California. It is a small community 80 miles south of Sacramento surrounded by almond orchards and quiet subdivisions. Yet it possesses one of the finest and most advanced cinemas in the country. It is well worth a special trip. In all my travels across the country visiting many fine cineplexes, it is by far the best. The Galaxy Corporation spares no expense for their cutting edge theaters. The cavernous lobby ushers you into two giant auditoriums with 60-foot screens and eight channel sound systems. Ten additional smaller screens fill out the complex.

Galaxy isn’t shy at screening movies out of the mainstream. It is refreshing to see a subtitled Spanish movie or a 3-D National Geographic short alongside the typical and omnipresent blockbusters. Taking a risk from time to time and not always being chained to big budget films is refreshing. They even screen classic black and white movies from the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s every Tuesday morning. For $2 you can see Myrna Loy or John Wayne on the big screen and taste the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Leg room is ample and the seats recline. Every theater is a jewel. DBS, DFX, D-Box – every new movie technology makes its way to Galaxy first. It is gratifying to see a corporation willing to spend the time and money to be the best. Their projection and sound systems are the finest available. The theaters are meticulously groomed and cleaned. Viewing movies here is a gift. I loathe going anywhere else.