Lights! Camera! Expansion!

Next year, Nightlight Cinema will celebrate 10 years since it opened its doors to the arthouse film experience in Akron. Nightlight aficionados hope the celebration will include the debut of the theater’s second screen.

Located at 30 N. High Street, the Nightlight is a nonprofit theater that has become a favorite of local cinephiles, artists and families in Akron and surrounding areas. Since its opening in 2014, the Nightlight has shown hundreds of documentaries, cult classics and indie films – all only with one screen. 

Now, after a decade of building a name for itself, the theater has undertaken a fundraising effort called the Second Screen Act. The intent is to raise nearly a million dollars to expand and add another screen/viewing room. 

The fundraising started in November 2022 – and with the help of a Kickstarter, nonprofit grants and individual donations, is about a third of the way through its first phase.

“People have been very generous and supportive, and really, everyone wants this to happen,” said Jenn Kidd, the Nightlight’s executive director since 2021. “It just makes sense.”

A ‘curated’ experience

The Nightlight experience is different from big-box theaters’ in both its films and its atmosphere. It’s a cozy place where employees introduce each film; where classics such as “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” new films by independent studios, music documentaries and re-screenings of recent successes (such as, earlier this year, “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”) 

Even the beverages have personality. The Nightlight’s bartender concocts specialty drinks that riff on what’s on the bill. For the horror hit “X,” the bourbon-based “Pearl’s X-traordinary Elixir” honored the film’s villain. 

Kidd has been attending screenings at the theater since its opening in 2014—and recognizes the labor of love involved for the theater to grow.

“It’s so interesting in a time where major theaters are closing that we are expanding,” she said. “From the beginning, there’s been so much thought about what films show and the experience – it’s more of a curated experience.”

A little bit of history

The Nightlight started as an idea dreamt up by a group of friends from the University of Akron. In the early 2000s, a social organization for cinephiles and gamers called Akron Film+Pixel began hosting film festivals and events at places such as the public library and the Akron Art Museum. After years of sharing their passion for film, they decided their arts and film community needed a physical space to thrive–one run by locals, with the interests of the city at heart.

Anthony Crislip, the Nightlight’s manager since 2022, said the community around the theater has been strong since he started there.

“Being here, you come see the movie, there’ll be an introduction, there’ll be a whole sense of ceremony built around the movie, and it just [feels] totally unlike anything I’d experienced, even in other arthouse theaters,” he said.

Keeping the momentum going requires more than just showing cool movies, however.  It requires teaming up with other local groups and conveying to the community its particular niche as an Akron arts nonprofit. 

The Nightlight has partnered with the Akron Art Museum for film screenings and the University of Akron for guest speakers. The theater is also teaming up with the LeBron James Family Foundation’s House Three Thirty to show free family Christmas movies at the House during the last week of December.

The second screen act

The Second Screen Act is the Nightlight’s biggest undertaking yet. With the addition of a screen, the theater will be able to double both its audience and the number of films it shows. (Some films require a “clean run” when showing in theaters, meaning their licensing requires them to be the sole movie shown on a particular screen during a run.)

In 2023 alone, the Nightlight greeted 15,000 movie-goers for more than 100 movies—in one theater with only 42 seats. The expansion, Kidd predicts, could bring an extra 30,000 visitors to Akron’s downtown ecosystem.

The expansion plan also calls for upgrades to other parts of the theater, such as an expanded bar, a ticket booth, a library lounge for after-movie hangs and an updated marquee and facade. There are also plans to bring Zoom capabilities to the screen to host virtual Q&As with filmmakers across the globe.

“People have been very generous and supportive, and, really, everyone wants this to happen,” Kidd said. “It just makes sense.”

In October, the Nightlight launched a Kickstarter campaign to accept donations from community members who want to support the theater’s expansion. Within two months, the campaign raised $65,380 (nearly $15,000 more than the goal) from 290 sponsors.

“Before I was here, I was working in the arts district as a creative director. I was connecting artists, looking at murals, working in the music venues, doing it all,” Kidd said. “But the Nightlight is kind of an anchor: We’re on High Street, we’re one of the first places when you drive downtown from the North. … I feel very lucky to be where we are.”

The theater needs to raise one million dollars before construction can begin, Kidd said. They are about a third of the way to their goal and hope renovations can start in spring of next year. She and her team are currently securing a physical space adjacent to the theater and working to finalize construction permits. Kidd does not expect any disruptions to typical Nightlight operations during construction.

“The closer we get to our goal, the sooner we can start,” Kidd said. “The drawings are complete, the structural engineering is in place, the permits, we have our contractor – we’re good to go, we just need to close this funding gap.”

Editor’s note: The subheading was updated to correct a misspelling in The Nightlight’s name.