This September, Carbondale’s iconic Crystal Theatre will begin a new chapter — one without longtime owners Bob and Kathy Ezra, who have lovingly stewarded the community staple for the past 40 years. 

For Bob and Kathy, their decades-long adventure began with an appreciation for independent films and a string of perfectly timed moments.

“We at one point had lived on Martha’s Vineyard, and they had a film society that showed movies in other settings than a movie theater…but we got hooked on independent and small films and thought, well, this will be a cool thing to do at some point in our lives,” Kathy said. 

After relocating to the Roaring Fork Valley, a friend introduced Bob to the condemned Crystal Theatre. 

“I was sitting in Brad Hendricks’s kitchen and I told him it’d be fun to have a place where we could show movies, and he said what about the Crystal Theatre?” Bob said.

The couple began a year-and-a-half long renovation in 1983. Initially, they’d planned to equip the theater with folding chairs and a 16 millimeter project, but then “it got out of hand, and we decided we’re gonna do a 35 millimeter real movie theater,” Bob said.

They learned as they went, absorbing tips and tricks of the trade from other local theater owners.

“It’s been a whole history of things falling in place at the right time and wonderful people helping us who were knowledgeable and supportive and available,” Kathy said. “We’ve been really lucky to have all those people in our past and present.”

In November 2023, the Ezras put the Crystal Theatre on the market —  it was time for their next adventure.

“A lot of the demographic has shifted since COVID-19. The demographic was our demographic…but lately, we’ve been seeing lots of young young people coming, people that we’ve never seen before,” Bob said. “So it’s encouraging. The group from 28 to 40 is coming to movies, and that’s important for the future of movie theaters and I think it’s happening, and that’s good.”

“Our demographic came back to a certain point, and it’s been a nice mix, and we just felt comfortable when we put it on the market that the timing was right,” Kathy added. 

They explored multiple potential futures for the theater — a handful of community members reached out with an interest in purchasing and preserving the business, while others wanted to take the venue in a new direction. 

“It was a lot of hearing other people’s ideas, and some seemed like they could possibly work and others seemed like they wanted to move in a different direction that we weren’t too fond of,” Kathy said. 

One of those hopefuls was local resident Kate Schwerin.

“I have this list of reasons I love our area and one of them is the Crystal Theatre, the radio station, I love KDNK, I love Strawberry Days,” Schwerin said. “It was more than a theater to me. It was always part of what makes this area so great.”

Initially just a devoted patron, Schwerin’s perspective shifted in the summer of 2024 when she heard the theater was for sale. 

“I panicked. I was like, oh no, what if it doesn’t sell, what if it closes down? What if it turns into something else?” Schwerin said. “That’s when I really started asking total strangers if they wanted to buy the movie theater with me, and a couple of them got kind of serious. 

“That’s really what gave me the courage to look into it deeper — if a couple of strangers also had that much love for the theater and started getting a little serious about it, then it meant something to a lot more people than just myself and a few of my friends,” she added. “It meant something to the entire community.”

Eventually, Will Grandbois, a longtime part-time employee of the theater, suggested she look into forming a nonprofit. 

“Then we started talking to other independent theaters around the country, and we started with the Majestic in Crested Butte, and it turns out it’s already the existing model for most independent theaters,” Schwerin said. “Nine times out of 10, they are already nonprofits.”

In September, the Ezras plan to sell the Crystal Theatre to the newly formed Crystal Theatre Alliance (CTA), a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the theater’s legacy while expanding its community offerings.

“I’ll miss our audiences the most,” Kathy said. “Over the years you learn a lot about your regular customers, and you interact with them, and they become friends, and that is in our social life and so it will be a shift.”

“It’s been our life for 40 years,” Bob added. “That’s a big change.”

Made up of a group of nine board members, core volunteers and advisors, the CTA is committed to preservation and innovation. Plans include expanding live performances, hosting speaker series, partnering with schools and offering youth programming. 

“The right buyer is the CTA,” Bob said. “Will Grandbois has worked at the theater for over 10 years and grew up going to the theater and Kate is pretty creative. Between the two of them, they’re the best possible option.” 

Schwerin, CTA executive director, Grandbois, the theater’s incoming general manager and the CTA are working to raise $500,000 by Sept. 1 to fund the acquisition. So far, they’ve raised $275,000. 

The funds will go towards audio- visual upgrades, transforming the space for multi-use events, programming development, a long-term lease and acquisition of the business and its assets. 

“We’re a separate entity that is purchasing the business, but a lot of us involved in it do have history with the theater,” Grandbois said. “It’s an interesting hybrid of it is a new entity, but it’s also an attempt at continuity…We’re not coming in as outsiders who don’t know the drill and don’t respect the institution, but we are bringing some fresh energy, and Kate is a big part of that fresh energy. 

“I think it’s really important to emphasize that we don’t want to change the Crystal Theatre — it’s still going to be the same great theater, it’s just going to do a lot more,” Schwerin added. It’s ‘yes and’ it’s not, ‘Oh, we have to change everything.’ We have a love for the theater and we have a love for cinema so we’re very much going to stay in that vein, we’re just going to do a lot more.”

For the Ezras, it’s a bittersweet goodbye — and a fresh start. 

“We couldn’t be more grateful. Without (the community), there’s no us. Without you, there’s no (CTA) without you, there is no Crystal Theatre,” Kathy said. “I feel like it always was and always will be about the audience. That’s the reason we’re there. That’s why we do what we do, as well as an affection for movies.”

“It’s been a great run,” she later added.