THE RITZ / HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SANFORD
A CITY IN
THE AUDIENCE.
A building full of evenings.
A community that keeps making room for the next one.
ROB URBAN
One of the earliest pleasures of going to Sanford’s theater was recognizing Sanford on the screen.
The Ritz’s National Register nomination describes local audiences watching Good-Bye Girls, parts of which had been filmed in the city. Schoolchildren and Kiwanis Club members pointed out familiar places and faces.
I find that a lovely beginning for the story of a community theater. The people in the seats had brought their own knowledge into the room. The film offered a story; recognition supplied another kind of excitement.
More than a century after the building’s 1923 opening, the Ritz still gives Sanford a place to gather around performance. What I admire is the effort that has allowed so many separate evenings to become part of one address’s life.
OPEN THE
DOORS AGAIN.
MAY 6, 2000
The grand reopening.
The Helen Stairs chapter.
The theater opened as the Milane, taking the Ritz name in 1936. Its official history records a changing life of films and live entertainment, a closure in 1978, a later period as the Showtime Cantina, and another closure in 1988.
The return to theater depended on people willing to see a future in the building. In the mid-1990s, a nonprofit group led by Helen Stairs acquired it. Restoration followed. The theater’s centennial announcement records the grand reopening on May 6, 2000, with the venue named in her honor.
I appreciate the determination contained in that sequence. A date makes a reopening look like a moment. For the people involved, it represents all the work required before an audience can be invited back.
There must be a usable room around the memory of a room. The people doing the restoration have to care about both: what others remember and what future visitors will need.
Helen Stairs and the people working with her helped make another generation of evenings possible. That is the contribution I want to keep in view when admiring the building. The architecture holds the occasion; people gave the occasion a chance to return.
The sign. The rehearsal room.
The work that continues.
The work continued after the reopening.
The theater’s history describes further renovations in 2008, supported by the Wayne Densch Charitable Trust, including an annex with rehearsal, office and storage space. In 2015, private donors, Sanford’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the trust supported additional improvements, including repainting and a renewed marquee with an LED Ritz sign recalling the 1930s design.
I like the combination of a sign the public can enjoy and spaces the audience may never enter. A theater needs its welcome on the street. It also needs somewhere for people to prepare.
Preservation has this practical, continuing side. It asks people to look after a building while letting it remain useful. A rehearsal room belongs to the next production. Storage belongs to the interval between productions. The marquee helps the whole effort announce itself to someone walking past.
Those different kinds of care give the theater a present tense. A person can appreciate its age while coming through the door for something happening now.
When the Ritz launched its 100th-anniversary season, it asked the community to contribute memories.
The centennial oral-history invitation welcomed recollections of watching films, encountering music, enjoying a special occasion or first appearing onstage. A history display developed with the Sanford History Museum was also part of the anniversary plans.
I admire the breadth of that question. The institution has dates and names to preserve, but the audience has another part of the record.
The same room may have been a childhood outing for one person, an early performance for another and the setting of a favorite song for someone else. Those accounts can disagree about which evening mattered most. That is exactly why collecting them is valuable.
A town’s cultural life includes what people carried away privately. Asking for those memories acknowledges that the people in the seats helped make the place significant. Their experience is part of what the building has sheltered.
WHAT DO
YOU REMEMBER?
The centennial asked
the audience to help
tell the story.
An experienced volunteer.
A first shift.
The next evening also needs someone to welcome people into it.
The Ritz’s volunteer information describes an orientation for new volunteers and pairing a newcomer with an experienced volunteer for the first shift. The page also invites groups and says roles can be matched to people’s abilities and interests.
That pairing is a detail I appreciate. Somebody who knows the place helps somebody else become comfortable contributing to it. Knowledge passes through company, one working evening at a time.
For a visitor, a welcome may take only a moment. For the volunteer, it is time deliberately given to someone else’s enjoyment. A historic theater continues to exist as a public place through many such decisions to show up.
The restoration story deserves its applause. So does the ongoing willingness to make the theater work for the next person arriving.
The next evening belongs here, too.
I think about those early moviegoers recognizing familiar faces on the screen. They had found their own city inside an entertainment experience, and the room gave them somewhere to enjoy the discovery together.
The Ritz has offered many different kinds of recognition since then. A familiar performer. A room someone remembers from childhood. A young person taking the stage. A volunteer who begins to know the returning audience.
What inspires me is the continuity people have chosen to create. They restored the building, supported further work, kept programming it and continued to give others a reason to come.
A theater can hold a great deal of a city’s affection. The best tribute to that affection is another evening worth remembering.
For another Sanford stage, read about Theater West End, or explore Seminole County Stories. If you have a place whose story deserves this kind of attention, I would enjoy hearing about it.
Rob Urban
A place in the audience.
Where is the Ritz Theater in Sanford?
The theater is at 201 South Magnolia Avenue in downtown Sanford. Its business and box office address is 203 South Magnolia Avenue. Check the current event and seating information before your visit.
Why has the theater had several names?
It opened as the Milane in 1923 and became the Ritz in 1936. Its restoration was honored with the Helen Stairs name, and later support was recognized through the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center name. The Ritz name is used for the theater today.
Can people volunteer at the Ritz?
The theater publishes volunteer opportunities and an application. Its current information describes orientation and support from an experienced volunteer for a first shift. Contact the theater about current roles, availability and any accommodations you need.