Scene One Entertainment Targets April for Reopening of Legendary Spectrum 8 Movie Theater

ALBANY — Scene One Entertainment is slated to reopen the Spectrum 8 Theaters in Albany this month, the company announced this week. 

Joe Masher, owner and CEO, Scene One Entertainment, opened Scene One Wilton Mall Cinemas at the Wilton Mall in Saratoga last month. The company also operated Movieland in Schenectady.

Spectrum 8 Theaters first opened in 1983 and for decades screened independent, upscale programming of avantgarde, foreign, independent, and widely-released features. Originally a single-screen theater known as The Delaware Theater that opened in the early 1940s, the Spectrum has been a mainstay of the Delaware Avenue neighborhood.

“The overwhelming response to the theatre’s closing last month prompted me to move faster with the building’s owner to get the cinema reopened. I’ve been working very closely with (Spectrum co-founder) Keith Pickard to bring the heart and soul back into the Spectrum. The art gallery will be reactivated and the calendar that was published monthly will return,” Masher said in a statement. 

Scene One will restore the selections that made the Spectrum’s concession stand a treasure: locally-sourced cakes, pastries, cookies, gluten-free delights, real butter on fresh, hot popcorn, and mint brownies.

“I’ve been attending the Spectrum since Keith and his partners opened it in 1983. I saw its first film, ‘Lianna’, when it was a one-screen cinema. I’ve been a giant fan of their operations since their start at the Third Street Theater. I am honored that Keith and his partners have selected me to carry on their tradition,” Masher said. For more information about Scene One Entertainment, visit scene1ent.com.