Short Street was jam packed on Friday night, Aug. 15, for the unveiling of Little Art Theatre’s new marquee — an LED homage to the theater’s aesthetics of yesteryear and a downtown beacon for the days ahead. Staffers and board members of the 96-year-old theater told the News that the lighting of the new marquee is the first of many upcoming improvements ahead of Little Art’s centennial in 2029. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Little Art’s new look, new horizons
- Published: August 25, 2025
On the humid evening of Friday, Aug. 15, an estimated 400 folks crowded Short Street to roll out the proverbial red carpet for a local landmark and its Hollywood makeover.
To great fanfare, Little Art Theatre officially unveiled its new marquee — a sleek, LED-adorned overhang with retro Art Deco stylings and Mesoamerican motifs. On the sides are digital screens that have already begun displaying next week’s showtimes.
The unveiling celebration brought together local organizations like the YS Community Band — which played a set of famed movie scores — as well as the Egyptian Breeze Belly Dance Troupe, young vocalists from Mad River Theater Works and local visual artists. Free popcorn was doled out en masse and Mayor Pam helped direct traffic and usher pedestrians across the crosswalks painted as filmstrips.
“I’m still kind of processing it all,” Theater Manager Caleab Wyant told the News earlier this week. “It was all just so surreal seeing everyone — the community, the theater’s staff, the board — in one space, all there to make this thing happen.”
“I just love it so much,” Wyant said.
Not long before the sun set on Friday, Aug. 15, when Little Art’s new marquee would shine over the large crowd gathered downtown, the theater’s board, staff and friends cut the official ribbon alongside representatives from independent media server and streaming company Plex, which helped make the new marquee possible. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
The 96-year-old theater’s new marquee has been a project in the making for the last few years. In November 2023, Little Art Theatre received a $100,000 grant from independent media server and streaming company Plex as part of the company’s “Theater of Dreams” initiative.
Elyria, Ohio-based Wagner Electric Sign Co. began their inspections and replacement drafts last year, and last month, oversaw the demolition of the iconic midcentury marquee. The replacement landed in town earlier in August, and when Wyant first saw it — amid the downtown dust and demo — he was blown away.
“Sure, you see mock-ups and it looks really great, but when I watched it get put into place and [saw] it in context next to Ohio Silver and Kismet and all the other buildings, it just fit in so perfectly,” Wyant said.
Wyant added that the aesthetics of the new marquee — the 1940s-era Art Deco flourishes and the visual elements that hark to those inside — work in concert to symbolize where the Little Art’s been, and where it’s headed.
“This is the face of the theater, and now, it’s almost like you can see the inside of it before even going through the doors,” he said. “This marquee is this perfect metaphor of acknowledging our nearly 100-year past, while also showing people that we have plans to continue to be here for a long time.”
Wyant also noted that, while he’ll miss putting up showtimes and movie screenings on the old marquee, letter by letter — well, maybe not in the winter, he said — he thinks the new retro design and heightened tech can compensate for the lost anachronism.
Details on the new marquee. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Into the next century
The News also spoke with Little Art board members Connie O’Brien and Melissa Heston this week — the former of whom was recently appointed as board chair, and the latter of whom is now interim executive director.
Both echoed Wyant and said that last Friday’s marquee unveiling couldn’t have gone better.
“Seeing everyone there and helping us celebrate was just so inspiring,” Heston said.
“We really felt the love and the support of the community,” she continued. “The Community Foundation and the Village were just so great to work with; they bent over backwards to make it all come together, and [Village Manager] Johnnie Burns made sure the crowd could go safely in the street.”
Though they’re still catching their breath, O’Brien and Heston said they and the board are already looking toward the future — the next 100 years, in fact.
They said that the marquee unveiling was the launchpad for the “Second Century Campaign,” a capital improvement initiative designed to raise money and morale to carry Little Art Theatre forward another 100 years — that is, a century beyond its centennial in 2029.
O’Brien and Heston said that they, Wyant and the Little Art board are planning to carry out additional projects in the forthcoming years, such as improving the interior of the theater — from the seats and concessions counters, to the bathrooms and projection technology — as well as accessibility infrastructure, and possibly even building a future backdoor patio that faces Kieth’s Alley.
Beyond the ongoing physical improvements to Little Art Theatre, Heston and O’Brien said they aim to continue expanding the kinds of programming the theater offers, which in recent years, has gone well beyond simply screening movies.
In the last two years alone, Little Art Theatre has hosted weddings, conferences, jazz performances, singer/songwriter rounds, improv comedy shows, local history seminars and more — all on top of the theater’s weekly slate of silver screen flicks and art house films, which Wyant said are bringing in an average of 1,000 ticket-holders each month.
“Our program committee really wants to do more,” O’Brien said. “And we’ve been recruiting more community members to do just that. We’re trying to make sure more voices are heard in the kind of programming offered here.”
As Wyant later added, it’s that kind of creative thinking and diverse programming that will keep the movie magic at Little Art Theatre alive and well for at least the next century to come.
“Having a collective experience — an event to gather and laugh together, to be scared together — has a universal appeal that doesn’t seem to be fading,” he said.
Wyant continued: “Cable television was supposed to kill movies and it didn’t. So, you know, I think as long as people want to be together in one space, to share in an experience all at once, then I think movies have a pretty good shot at existing 100 years from now.”
In addition to its staff of eight, Little Art Theatre is seeking occasional volunteers to help with concessions, box office sales, ushering and greeting. To get involved, contact Melissa Heston at melheston@gmail.com.
For weekly screenings, programming and event information, go to http://www.littleart.com.
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