The New Rheem Theatre will close at the end of June.
“We are very sad to report that today we received a 60% rent increase from the landlord. We can not afford such an increase and will be forced to close soon. We were given a 30 day notice. Thank you all for the happy memories over the past 5 years, the joy, the laughs and now the tears!” the theater management posted on their Facebook page on May 30.
Derek Zemrak, founder of the California Independent Film Festival Association (CAIFFA), confirmed that the theater’s closing is due to the rent increase. According to Zemrak, the theater will be closing on June 30th, based on the 30 day notice.
The employees of the Rheem Theatre have been offered jobs at the Orinda Theatre, which will continue operating.
“It’s the only theater in Moraga, so I’m a little bummed because I can’t just go to Rheem and watch a movie,” said sophomore Cathy Tang. “I have to go to Orinda or Walnut Creek.”
Sophomore Zoe Portnoff added, “[It’s] pretty disappointing, because they do a lot of fun exhibits and things where they have original props from movies, and that was always fun to look at. You can’t really get that experience at any of the other theaters in the area.”
According to the New Rheem Theatre’s website, the theater was built 58 years ago by Donald Rheem as a single-screen cinema. It was closed in the 70s, but later reopened in the 80s as a performing arts venue, with three more screens added later.
Zemrak said that it would be very difficult to open an independent theater like the Rheem in Moraga again.”The building [would have to be] purchased by the town or a nonprofit organization, which is the way other independent theaters have to remain open,” he said.
Talk of having a fundraiser to raise money for the Rheem arose on Facebook, but Zemrak stated that “the building owner want[ed] to sell the building, which was on the market for 4.75 million. It would be very difficult to raise that amount of money in Moraga or an [sic] small community. Purchasing the building would be an major undertaking; it would require a lot more then a Facebook campaign.”
