- I don't even know whether I can watch this.

[audience laughing] - [Rob] It's a Saturday night in Wadesboro.

Actors are performing, audiences are applauding, and spirits are soaring inside the Ansonia Theater, the same way they did nearly 100 years ago.

- The Ansonia Theater has a long, long, rich history.

It's such a beautiful theater, it's historic.

It's got the old school kind of theater vibe and charm about it.

The audiences are incredible.

[audience laughing] - The Ansonia originally was built in 1925.

It was a combination Vaudeville movie theater.

[lively music] Started out with silent movies, and then they moved into the talkies.

You could come for a quarter, you could get into the movies, stay all day, and have popcorn and a drink too.

- [Elaine] I remember coming here for the first movie I ever saw, which was "Sentimental Journey."

- Then we're not exactly strangers to you.

- For my brother and I when we were very young, it was the greatest place in the world.

We would come in here, and Mother would bring us.

We would stay for a double feature and a serial.

It was the only theater around here.

- [Rob] And it remained that way for the next several decades, but as times and entertainment options changed, the Ansonia stopped showing movies and sat empty, until it was donated to the Anson County Arts Council in 1995.

- When the Anson County Arts Council got the theater, plans were made then, but it was probably a over a 15 year period at least, back and forth, you know, trying to raise money to put us over the hump.

- [Rob] Just as that milestone was being achieved, a local director happened to be passing through Wadesboro for the first time.

- And I rode by the Ansonia Theater, and I called them, and I was like, "Hey, my name's Tommy Wooten.

I'm a director, I'm looking for a space to direct."

They called me back that day and they went, "We are a theater without a director.

We've been waiting for you."

And so we started with "Trip to Bountiful" in 2013.

Here we are with "Smoke on the Mountain" in 2023.

♪ What a friend we have in Jesus ♪ - We put on five main stage productions every year, and then on top of that, we have a murder mystery show.

We have kids show every year that we do, and we bring in one night acts and things like that, bands and comedians.

We keep a pretty full schedule around here.

- We are the Sanders family singers.

- It is like taking in a Broadway caliber show.

We take it very seriously.

We have fun, but we know what the goal is, and we try to hit it.

Just cause we're a community theater doesn't mean that we're giving homemade community performances.

We're getting new audience members every single show.

- It's great family fun.

We bring the kids every Christmas.

I bring all of my grandchildren to see the Christmas plays.

They're awesome, every character is awesome.

- Please enjoy the show.

- Many people have been involved in bringing the Ansonia back to its former glory.

The restoration of the floors, the seats, and even the marquee out front have been the result of a community effort.

- These seats are the original seats.

When we took them out, a local business, Hornwood, provided the material for the seats, and CMH Flooring donated the wood floors and the tile.

People in the community felt a part of it.

When we started the restoration, people would talk about the theater.

They would always talk about where they sat, movies they'd seen, who they came to the movies with.

It had been so long in coming, and I think people were beginning to say, "Are you ever gonna be able to do it?"

So it was so rewarding to feel like, yes, we've done it.

- When they first started doing this, I thought this was the greatest thing I'd ever heard tell of.

[laughs] It was great.

It's very sentimental to me, because it's just something that I remember from my very young childhood, and I'm glad it's here in my old age.

[laughs] - [Rob] Nostalgia is everywhere at the Ansonia, and it extends beyond the physical into the feelings the theater creates.

Here in the 2020s, the goal is to make the Ansonia the same community center it was in the 1920s.

- This is where I think people can come that aren't normally together, that can come together and have a nice time.

- It just kind of takes you back in time a little bit, just to that old school charm when everybody got together before social media really took over our lives.

It just really brings people back to a more simple time, and I think that's wonderful.

[audience applauding] - The Antonia Theater is at 112 South Rutherford Street in Wadesboro.

For more information about upcoming performances, give them a call at [704] 694-4950 or visit their website at ansoniatheater.com.