The Tropic Gets Back in the Picture

When Executive Director Matthew Rawls said he was pulling up the carpet at the recently acquired Tropic Cinema, it wasn't just a metaphor for the work he and his team planned to put into the beleaguered and once-celebrated Art Deco venue.

This past Sunday, the public stepped in, and onto newly exposed concrete floors, just weeks out from the nonprofit's intended reopening at the beginning of October.

The event marked the first time locals were invited back inside the downtown cinema following a turbulent summer. First came the shock announcement from the Board of Directors that the theater would go dark amid industry headwinds and diminishing financial reserves. Then came the rapid reversal of fortune when, within weeks, PACKW/Tennessee Williams Theatre, the nonprofit behind the titular performing arts venue, announced it would take over operations, and in time implement its own modifications.

Once attendees looked up from the bare floors, several other changes came into focus.

Notably, the box office had been torn out, along with the cozy, boothed half-wall that once separated the concession area from the seating area, a space that, at the top of this year, hosted free Key West-centric documentaries on a large screen.

The Tropic's new team decided to take that idea one step further. A movie was projected onto the wall above, along one of the few on-site office spaces. It was a use of the lobby many had certainly never seen, or considered, during the cinema's years of operation on Eaton Street.

Rawls and Board President Bryan Green, who both provided brief remarks, reminded everyone that this was very much a work in progress. But the emphasis remained on showing movies, including blockbusters that premiered during the shuttered summer months, and getting new and old members through the doors as soon as possible.

They expected feedback and for the community to be involved as the Tropic navigated this initial comeback.

Given the nonprofit status of the Performing Arts Center of Key West (PACKW) as a 501(c)(3), there was naturally a sense of urgency around attracting new members.

Crucially, all active paid memberships will roll over into the new system, with time lost during the summer hiatus tacked back on.

Newly unveiled membership plans did reveal some departures from the Tropic's previous structure.

Options now begin with a Basic tier at $50 a year, offering 30% off regularly priced tickets, and progress to a Premium tier at $350 a year, with free tickets on Wednesdays and Thursdays and 50% off on other days.

By comparison, a membership at the same price under the previous Tropic administration for one member included free tickets throughout the week. But the costs for upcoming tickets to the Tropic, with or without a membership, have yet to be seen.

Higher-tier plans under the "Key West Film Society" are aimed at major donor support, ranging from $2,000 annually for two people to an Executive level at $25,000. Perks expand along the way from exclusive events and free movies to curation access, free concessions, logo placement and, notably, dedicated parking.

As the membership tiers allude to, the Tropic appears ready to embark on a wider slate of events, festivals, community initiatives and special programming. That includes regular showings of cult classics weighed in on by the public, along with the recently announced return of the Key West Film Festival.

In many ways, it is remarkable that a venue that seemed on life support just a few months earlier was now gearing up under new leadership in time for Fantasy Fest screenings, updated digs, and a renewed sense of purpose.

The Tropic Cinema, as far as my experiences went, never truly had a bad product.

I along with many other islanders saw some of the greatest movies of this century right there, with a large popcorn, at the edge of the world.

The Tropic, under its previous board and directorship, despite its efforts, just couldn't quite figure out how to get award-winning films in front of an audience that increasingly drifted toward Regal Cinema or simply stayed home.

And for what was effectively a sneak preview, not even the grand reopening, people, for a whole host of reasons, were excited to be back.

Conchs, recent transplants, old and young, lovers of classics and art-house horrors gathered in the half-finished lobby to discuss their hopes and plans, at home and on the silver screen.

New and former volunteers eagerly compared notes about dates to return to the cinema, which for years had been manned by a once considerable group of concession workers and box-office greeters whose numbers steadily thinned.

City Commissioners Monica Haskell and Christopher Massicotte were joined by Mayor Sam Kaufman, who in recent weeks attended at least one other Tropic Cinema fundraiser.

Some former floor managers and volunteer coordinators, were still happy to check in on the work underway under new management, even as none had yet been formally invited back.

Former members, meanwhile, came to inspect the renovations and, in more than one instance, express relief at the prospect of supporting an institution that had faced criticism over a lack of community outreach and waning relationships with benefactors.

Longtime attendees were eager to tour the reopened Natella Carper Theater, where Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet played for the crowd.

And as one former staff member absorbed the magnitude of what had been saved and accomplished in just a few weeks, even with all the change, past upheaval, and uncertainty still ahead, he didn't hesitate to believe that this all needed to happen.

For the love of film.

And Key West.