Denise Kasell Heads Coolidge Corner Theatre
Ex Hamptons Film Fest Head To Succeed Joe Zina
By: Mark Favermann - Dec 13, 2008
The Coolidge Corner Theatre is celebrating its 75th Anniversary. It is a year of endings and beginnings. This year marks the retirement of Executive Director Joe Zina after a ten year tenure. Under his leadership, the non-profit independent and art house cinema has grown from strength to strength. There is now a stabile membership base, a newly renovated interior and its iconographic marquee. The Coolidge is now known nationally and internationally as a superb venue for screening independent films, special cinematic events, retrospectives and film festivals. Distributors and directors now want to get their films screened at the Coolidge. Live shows also enhance the entertainment offerings.
After a wide-ranging search, Denise Kasell has been chosen to replace Joe Zina. She has an extensive background in serious film and entertainment management and production. Denise previously served as Executive Director of The Hamptons International Film Festival on New York's Long Island for nine years. This past year she was a freelance consultant to the film industry. Prior to that she served as a Film Commissioner and the Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Film Office & Festival. In that capacity, she established a unique format for the Hudson Valley Film Festival. This focused upon and celebrated the screenwriter. Here, she worked with the Writers Guild of America and initiated a writers exchange program with Equinox in France.
As the president of Sloane Kasell Productions, Ms. Kassell she continued to focus attention upon working with emerging writers on developing feature films and programming for network & cable television. Some of her production projects included Under Heat, an independent feature starring Lee Grant, Amazing Movies, For Love of Julian, First We Take Manhattan, an ABC TV movie, It's Only Rock and Roll, Made 2 Order, HGTV TV Magazine Series, LA The ARTS Interviews with David Byrne and Jonathan Demme on KCET and season introductions for PBS's Great Performances.
Denise Kasell has served as a tour manager and agent for performers and has packaged artists for concerts and television. A notable client has been Peter, Paul and Mary. Born and raised in New York, she received her Bachelor of Science from Hunter College. She began her professional career in New York City as a stage manager in regional theatre.
The 75 year history of the Coolidge Corner Theatre history begins on December 30, 1933, On that day, Brookline's first movie theater opened with a gala ceremony including speeches by local politicians and prominent businessmen, the distribution of souvenirs, and a showing of Only Yesterday, Saturday's Millions, a Disney short, and "a series of local pictures taken especially for the occasion."
As the years passed, grand movie palaces became less commercially viable, and movie audiences demanded more moderate movie theaters built specifically as showcases for the technical advances related to film exhibition. The Coolidge became a bit worn at the edges. Its Art Deco interior became rundown. Yet, generations of Brookline residents and Boston neighbors went to the movies at the Coolidge in the 30's, 40's and 50's. After purchase by businessman Justin Freed in 1977, the Coolidge became a showcase for "art" pictures that catered to more contemporary tastes for foreign and independent films.
As movie audiences flocked to suburban multiplex cinemas, Freed converted the large balcony section into another theater to show two films and to attract more patrons. After years of finding it difficult to compete with the multiplexes and with video rentals, Freed eventually chose to sell the theater. The perspective buyer was a developer with no regard to the history or tradition ofd the Coolidge. The Coolidge Corner Theatre was ominously threatened with demolition and conversion of the property into a mall.
In 1989, the Brookline community dramatically and successfully rallied together in a grassroots campaign to save the theater. I was asked to donate $75 at the time. This was a great investment. The visionary organizers believed in the value of a community coming together to share the experience of seeing films unfold on a giant screen. They understood the potential the Coolidge drew in a broad spectrum of residents across generations and social strata. They also understood town and cultural history and community memory.
Today, the Coolidge Comer Theatre Foundation runs a diverse program of art films, popular films, independent films, first-runs, local filmmaker showcases, children's matinees, and film-related events that appeal to the communities of Brookline and greater Boston. The Coolidge's many contributions to film culture have been recognized locally, nationally and internationally.
The actual renaissance of the Coolidge began in 1999, when volunteer Board Member Joseph Zina became Executive Director. With the generous cooperation of the The Hamilton Charitable Trust and Boston mega-developer Harold Brown, the theater negotiated a 50-year lease and forgiveness of $350,000 of debt. With initial preservation and restoration grants from foundations the basic infrastructure of the theatre began. Heating/Ventilation/and Air Conditioning (HVAC), electrical and plumbing problems were eventually solved.
New restrooms, lighting, and carpeting created a feeling of optimism that the community quickly rallied behind and supported. In 2000, old office space became a video screening room that added digital opportunities for local filmmakers to show their work in a professional setting as well as rental opportunities for meetings for increased revenue. In 2002, the build out of a childrens' performance stage thanks to a generous foundation donation transformed the small upstairs moviehouse into a theatrical space that expanded community programming and brought in family audiences. Later in May of that year, a new theatre marquee became a literal beacon of cultural and community optimism. This iconic structure is credited by the town with giving a stimulus for the rebirth of the business community. In 2006, a major facility renovation of $1.2 million added new seating, a new lobby space and handicap and hearing disability services throughout the theatre.
The Coolidge is the only operating not-for-profit Art Deco theatre in the Boston area and is considered by the Sundance Festival and writers, filmmakers and critics to be one of the top ten arthouse film exhibition theaters in the county. From the sponsoring of china giveaways during the Great Depression to the recent visits honoring Zhang Yimou, Vittorio Storaro, Meryl Streep, Thelma Schoonmaker and Jeremy Thomas to receive the annual Coolidge Award, the Coolidge Corner Theatre continues to play a unique role in the development and social history of the town of Brookline, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the New England Region and the world of cinema.
Denise Kasell has a wonderful opportunity to build on the foundation of a fabulous cultural institution. It has been said that the Coolidge Corner Theatre may be the second best place to be in the dark.