NEW CUMBERLAND – Fred Bollen has a problem that could affect what you do on date night.
The films Bollen shows at the West Shore Theater in New Cumberland –which he has owned with his mother, Violet Bollen, since 1986 – are going from 35 mm to a digital format, but the theater doesn’t have a digital projector.
The West Shore Theater in New Cumberland needs a new projector. A group of theater lovers have joined together to help theater owner Fred Bollen raise the money needed to pay for the equipment.
Fred Bollen said it’s already becoming harder to get films he’s able to show with the equipment the theater has.
The projector and the building modifications required to accommodate the new equipment and the cost of a new screen, which Fred Bollen said the theater needs, will run about $80,000.
It’s money Fred Bollen doesn’t have. And he needs it by July.
Fred Bollen expects to receive a grant from the Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority and he plans to take out a bank loan, all of which should generate about $60,000, but that still leaves him around $20,000 short.
“I can’t do it by myself,” Fred Bollen said.
Enter New Cumberland resident Mickey Minnick.
Minnick and a group of seven or eight West Shore Theater lovers have banded together to assist Fred Bollen raise money. The group recently finished designing a poster to get the word out that the theater needs help and to provide information for making donations.
“In today’s economy, raising money is not easy,” said Minnick, who believes his group will be able to raise the required money.
Fred Bollen has started some of the required modifications for the new projector, but he doesn’t have the resources to complete the work without help.
Could the West Shore Theater, which originally opened on January 22, 1940, close?
Fred Bollen said if he isn’t able to raise the money, yes.
For more information on how to help, see West Shore Theater on Facebook.