Saving Houston’s Cinema Safe Space

The historic River Oaks Theatre is a safe space for many in the Houston LGBTQ community, but it is faced with permanently closing its doors if a new leasing agreement is not signed this month.

The lease between Los Angeles-based Landmark Theatres, an art-house cinema chain that includes the River Oaks Theatre, and Weingarten Realty, which owns and operates the River Oaks Shopping Center, expires at the end of March. 

After Landmark began operating the classic Art Deco movie theater in 1976, Houston’s last remaining neighborhood theater became well known for showing foreign, independent, and LGBTQ films, as well as for pushing the boundaries of the local film scene. Film buffs all over the city gravitated to the theater for its splashy Art Deco design and its unique lineup of movies. 

With the theater now struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic, the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS) is just one of many local groups banding together to save this historic landmark.

“This theater means more to a lot of Houstonians than any park, shrine, or statue—and nobody demands increasing the return on investment from trees. In a city this big, with the resources we have, we cannot and should not lose another classic theater,” HFCS President Doug Harris said in a statement.

The loss of the theater would also be devastating to the many queer Houstonians who have used it as a creative safe space over the years. In addition to screening LGBTQ movies long before they were shown in Houston’s mainstream theaters, the River Oaks Theatre regularly presented The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a cult-classic film known for its campy interactive audience participation. 

The Royal Mystic Order of Chaos, a local theater group, sponsored a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening every month until the pandemic started. The group—which has a large LGBTQ cast and following—was completely in control of the theater. They have also hosted popular Pride screenings at the theater during June Pride month.

“During Rocky Horror Picture Show, [you are encouraged] to dress and behave the way you wish you could every day,” says Kyle Vaughan, the show’s casting director. “But some young people may not have the ability to do so, and as such, the theater has become a safe haven for a number of young queer folk in the community.”

Thanks to the efforts of Vaughan and other group members, the River Oaks Theatre has become a place where LGBTQ youth can explore queer culture unapologetically, according to queer Rocky Horror performer Lola Von Smash. “I can honestly tell you that while Rocky Horror is what drew me in, the culture surrounding the River Oaks Theatre is what makes me stay,” she emphasizes.

The Houston Film Critics Society has launched a fundraiser to help the River Oaks Theatre called Operation: Save Houston Cinema. They are offering a limited number of tickets that will allow socially distanced audiences to screen movies at the theater. 

In an effort to get the attention of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Landmark Theatres executives, Film Critics Society members also staged a protest in front of the theater on March 8 that attracted many local theater lovers. River Oaks Theatre staffers asked for community support through a letter-writing campaign to Houston City Council members. 

The pandemic has threatened the survival of several local artistic spaces, and theater lovers across the city hope the River Oaks Theatre will not be one of the casualties. “The artistic world is taking a heavy blow all around the world, due to the pandemic,” Von Smash says. “Preserving our history and this theater is now more important than ever.”