Pitts Theatre, also known as the State Theatre after 1970, is a historic

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

located at Culpeper,

Culpeper County, Virginia Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is Culp ...

. It was built in 1937–1938, and is a concrete block structure faced in brick in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. The building consists of a symmetrical three-bay façade, with a central theater entrance flanked by storefront retail spaces. The façade features a stepped massing that recedes from the entrance and storefronts. The interior has a sophisticated circulation system, which enabled balcony patrons, which were initially African-American, and white patrons to enter the theater separately to separate spaces; the main balcony and auditorium, respectively. The theater closed in 1992. an
''Accompanying four photos''
/ref> The theater was reopened in May 2013 with a performance by

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and relea ...

, after renovation supported by federal and state historic tax credits. The newly renovated performing arts venue's rebirth would be short lived, however. In an open letter to the Culpeper community on September 14, 2016, the State Theatre Foundation's board of directors announced that it would be ceasing operations immediately and refunding any ticket holders for upcoming performances. The letter did not give any specifics as to what would eventually become of the downtown icon, only stating "...to diligently work to decide the best course of action for the facility..." The building again sits closed to the public, as it once had for nearly twenty years, on Culpeper's Main Street. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008.

References

External links

Theatre website
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Art Deco architecture in Virginia Theatres completed in 1938 Buildings and structures in Culpeper County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Culpeper County, Virginia {{CulpeperCountyVA-NRHP-stub