Cinema 320 set to resume in new home at WCUW Radio

WORCESTER — Cinema 320 is coming back for in-person screenings, but there will be a new name and a new location:

The official name of the theater will be Cinema 320 at WCUW Radio, said owner and operator Steve Sandberg.

The new Cinema 320 will debut with screenings at 7 and 9 p.m. Sept. 24 in WCUW's Front Room performance space, 910 Main St., of the documentary "On Broadway."

The beloved independent “art house” Cinema 320 at Clark University screened a mix of indie and foreign films in Room 320 of the Jefferson Academic Center at Clark University for 36 years from 1982 before announcing in early 2019 that it was ceasing operations. At the time, Sandberg said the third-floor location of the theater had become “too impractical for too large a portion of the audience to make continued screenings feasible there.” 

In February 2020, plans were announced to have Cinema 320 operate at nearby radio station WCUW 91.3 FM. The opening was tentatively set for late March 2020, but then the pandemic arrived. Since then, Cinema 320 has been live-streaming movies.

After debuting Sept. 24 at WCUW, screenings of "On Broadway" will continue the next two Fridays on Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, with the same 7 and 9 p.m. showtimes, Sandberg said.

"This engagement is open-ended and exploratory. The show nights may be expanded as we get further along, but it's Fridays only for now. We'll see how it goes," Sandberg said.

Directed by Orin Jacoby and originally released in 2019, "On Broadway" chronicles how Broadway, on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1970s, avoided collapse and reinvented itself thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion, and the sometimes uneasy balance between art and commerce. Interviews with legends of the stage and screen include Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Viola Davis and Ian McKellen. The film also has archival clips of iconic performances by Lin Manuel Miranda, Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones and Mandy Patinkin. With Broadway reopening, "On Broadway" has been re-released and shows how Broadway can come back again.

Now the lights are also back on for Cinema 320.

"As was the case at Clark, I'll be renting the space as an independent vendor," Sandberg said.

Tickets for "On Broadway" at Cinema 320 are $9; $7 for seniors and WCUW members. Patrons must bring proof of vaccination and will be asked to wear a mask. 

For more information, visit www.cinema320.com and www.facebook.com/cinema320/