A meeting will explore nonprofit role at Wauwatosa's Rosebud Cinema, closed since pandemic

A community meeting has been organized to find a way to revive the Rosebud Cinema, the Wauwatosa movie theater that has been shuttered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than three years ago.

A "Rosebud Community Nonprofit Meeting" has been called for 1 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Rosebud, 6823 W. North Ave., to "explore the idea of reopening the theater and operating it as a community-led nonprofit," according to social media posts promoting the event.

Dave Celata, who organized the meeting, stressed that the meeting was a preliminary conversation.

“Nothing specific is being proposed, nothing specific has been promised — it’s just a conversation to explore an idea and see how much energy there is in the community to pursue that idea,” said Celata, who lives in the Rosebud's neighborhood and has worked in nonprofit management for 20 years.

Built in 1931, the Rosebud is one of three theaters owned by Neighborhood Theater Group. Lee Barczak, who with his wife, Jane Schilz, owns NTG, said he agreed to let organizers use the theater for the Sept. 9 meeting. But, Barczak said via text message: "There is no commitment to turn over or rent the theater to anyone. It is only a discussion."

Like the rest of Milwaukee's movie theaters, the Rosebud shut down in March 2020 amid the stay-at-home orders at the start of the pandemic. By mid-2021, all but a handful of the Milwaukee area's 20 theaters had reopened. Among those that were still closed were the Rosebud and its sister theater on Milwaukee's west side, the Times Cinema, both owned by Neighborhood Theater Group.

In June 2021, Barczak told the Journal Sentinel that both the Times and Rosebud would reopen by August 2021.

The Times finally reopened in April 2022 as a repertory-format theater, showing older and classic movies along a particular theme.

But the Rosebud has remained closed, with "coming attractions" posters outside the theater still promoting movies that had been scheduled to open in April 2020 (the James Bond movie "No Time to Die" and the Disney movie "Onward").

For nearly two years, the Rosebud's marquee read "Re-Opening Soon." Recently, the marquee has been blank.

Barczak and Neighborhood Theater Group bought the Times and Rosebud out of foreclosure in 2012. The group also owns the Avalon Theater in Bay View; it reopened in September 2020.

Wauwatosa Alderman Andrew Meindl, whose district includes the Rosebud, said the theater's owners told him that staffing issues were the reason the Rosebud was still closed. He said he's encouraged about the Sept. 9 meeting.

"It's something very nonpartisan. … It will give something to the community to rally around," Meindl said. "I totally support it."

Celata called the initial response "overwhelming." But he added that the aim of the meeting is to have a conversation about what would be involved in exploring a nonprofit role at the Rosebud — including what it would take to sustain the theater as a business.

“That has to be a very real part of this conversation," Celata said. "It’s one thing to want to see something in your neighborhood, in your community. It’s another thing to make that commitment.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meeting is called to look at reopening the Rosebud Cinema in Wauwatosa