This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
The Marquis Theatre opened in downtown Easton with two screens in December and by the time students returned for the spring semester, two more were operating. John Halecky ’84, vice president of Community Theatres Inc., hopes to renovate and open two more auditoriums by the end of the year.
“Everyone we’ve spoken with has been very excited about the theater reopening,” he says. “Every night we serve the movie-goers and find more and more people are visiting a place they are either accustomed to or are discovering for the first time.”
Community Theatres’ focus for the 30-year-old theater, and others like it, is catering to the local market, especially families with smaller children, older moviegoers, and patrons seeking more sophisticated films.
“The normal environment in bigger multiplexes tends to provide for a majority of teenagers,” he says. “We seek an environment where families with small children won’t be intimidated, and that accommodates people past their teens going out for dinner and a movie, who are interested in the actual film.”
The theater has gone through several owners and name changes since it was first built in the 1970s, and Community Theatres decided to tip its hat to the College by naming it Marquis Theatre.
“The opening of the Marquis Theatre is a plus for the city of Easton and for the Lafayette College community,” says Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf ’55.
“We thought it was time to bring the theater back,” Halecky adds. “It’s nice to know that this location provides a place for the faculty and students of my alma mater.”
Community Theatres will present a series of special screenings in conjunction with local radio station WDIY. There have also been preliminary discussions about using the theatre for film presentations and special events related to the College.
Admission is $8.25 for adults and $5.75 for children and matinee shows. Exclusive to Lafayette students, admission Monday-Thursday is $5.75 with a college I.D.
The theater opened as Eric Twin with two screens in 1975, four in 1980, and six in 1983. United Artists bought it in the 1990s and closed it in July 1999. It was purchased in December 1999 and recast as Cinema Paradiso, a limited-run, foreign and independent movie theater, but it closed in September 2001.