It's the Brian Lair Show on WNYC.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom, filling in for Brian today.

For generations, the movie theater was a central part of life

in downtown Maplewood, New Jersey. But when the pandemic hit, Maplewood theaters, like so many

small-town cinemas across the country, closed its doors, and it's never reopened. Now, five years

later, the old theater sits dark, its fate uncertain, and the town

is weighing its future. Should the site become housing, retail, a performance space, or

should it stay what it has always been, a place to see a movie on the big screen with your friends,

your kids, maybe on a date? Angela Motusik and Lisa Cohen are the co-founders of the Maplewood Film Society, a group that's

been hosting pop-up screenings around town and advocating to bring cinema back to the heart

of Maplewood Village.

They join us now to talk about their efforts and why they believe local theaters still matter in the post-COVID

streaming area. Angela and Lisa, welcome to WNYC. Thank you for having us. Hello. And listeners,

we can take your calls. Anybody want to share a favorite movie memory from the Maplewood

theaters? And if you aren't in Maplewood, have you lost a beloved neighborhood theater in

your own town? What do you think? Is it worth fighting to save small local theaters?

Call and tell us about it. 212-433 W-N-YC. That's 212-433-96-9-2. You can call or text. Angela and Lisa by way of

introduction, what are your own connections to Maplewood and what drew you to the idea of

saving the town's movie theater? Angela, do you want to start us off? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having us. We're so excited to talk about this.

Lisa and I have both lived in Maplewood for a long time, myself, over 15 years.

I was an entertainment journalist before I moved to Maplewood, and I can honestly say that one of the reasons why I moved

to Maplewood was because I could walk to the downtown cinema. It's not even a downtown. It's a small

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