This fall, the show goes on

Liberty Theater gets a second act

By Jack Dusenbury-Dalto | Manor Ink

Liberty, NY – If you have been to this village recently, you might have noticed the new marquee fronting the former Liberty Theater building on Main Street. The addition is just the most obvious indication that the theater is being renovated and restored by investor Bruce Davidson.

The Davidson family came from Lew Beach, and has been in Sullivan County for seven generations. Bruce’s great-great grandfather actually built many of the covered bridges in the Sullivan County area, including the one right here in Livingston Manor on Covered Bridge Road. Manor Ink met with Davidson to learn about the theater’s renovations and timeline, and to find out what’s in store for the building in the future.

A county showplace

The Liberty Theater originally opened in 1927, ran as a live stage theater, and was added to over the years. After the addition of the balcony, the theater held one thousand patrons. By 1975, it had tripled in size to an estimated 30,000 square feet. After being converted to a movie multiplex in the 1980s, the theater eventually closed in 2005.

After selling Pestech, Davidson’s Liberty-based company, he and his wife were looking for ways to invest in the community, which has struggled through challenging times over the years. The need to give back brought him to the theater. But, a year after starting the renovations, COVID hit. 

“About five years ago, we started and then we had the pandemic which made us stop everything for almost two years,” Davidson said. “It was pretty difficult. Everything cost more, labor costs went up.” But now things are back on track and he expects to open the theater this fall.

A village asset

Davidson described the Liberty Theater as an anchor building – a business that helps define a town, is a gathering place, and is special from an architectural point of view. “An anchor building is one of the main buildings on a Main Street. One that everybody can see. It’s very visible and brings people in.” The beautiful new marquee is a key part of this building’s new visibility. “The marquee is actually not the original, but is a recreation. We found the original in a pile of rubble and then spent a lot of time recreating it.”

The marquee is not the only thing that’s new. The entire building has been either rebuilt or restored. “We brought back the original tin ceilings, restored the hardwood floors, the moldings, the window sashes, and the walls have been brought back to the original plaster,” said Davidson. Some ceilings in the auditorium have not yet been refurbished and are in bad condition, evidence of the enormous undertaking the restoration has been. 

But most of the renovations have been completed. The upstairs now houses six office suites. An elevator has been added, making the floor handicap accessible. And the lobby has been restored back to its original glory. A coffee shop is going into the corner store front, one of three retail spaces. 

The auditorium is the last part of the project. Renovations began in June and are expected to be complete by November, though it is astonishing how much work is needed.

Davidson plans for it to be a live dinner theater with a pull-down screen for possible movie projection. The sorts of performances it will host will be determined once the theater is rented out. Davidson stressed he is just in charge of the physical building space.

This amazing project has the potential to bring many more people to the village of Liberty. If the bright red marquee is any indication, it will likely be a resounding success.