The Common Man restaurants have their newest family member, and it’s right on Main Street. After the local movie theatre closed last year, Alex Ray and Lisa Lovett decided to take it on as their latest project, The Flying Monkey. With inspiration from Ray’s performance as a flying monkey in the Educational Theatre Collaboration’s 2009 production of The Wizard of Oz, the reopened theatre found its new name. The ATC was a big motivator for Ray and Lovett to go ahead with this new venture. As for why Ray, owner of The Common Man family of restaurants, and Lovett went for something outside of the restaurant business, they both credit that to their love and support for Plymouth. “We’re both from here, ya know? This is where we live. This is our town,” said Lovett. Changing the name of the theatre is just the beginning for this small town theatre. Ray and Lovett have big ideas and big plans for The Flying Monkey. The original theatre was built in 1928 and was vaudeville style; traditional with one large screen and long rows in front of it and aisles on the sides. When it was still Spinelli’s Cinema, they split it into two separate theatres with seating for about 125 people in each. Ray and Lovett’s new vision is going back to its original construction. Their new plans consist of knocking out the wall on the main floor and making that into an auditorium with seating for up to 500 people. With this new addition, they will be able to put on concerts and comedy shows. Up until this point, all concerts have had to be outside or in the H.U.B. Along with this new auditorium will come a multipurpose room, a private screening room, and two additional theatres that will be put in a floor below the auditorium. Maybe the most intriguing thing about The Flying is that they have a liquor license, which is not typical for movie theatres. Movie-goers can get beer and wine with any movie showing they attend.
Because of the renovation taking place, the theatre will be closing as soon as Mar. 7, and will not re-open until mid June. Up until that Sun., The Flying Monkey will be having frequent specials going on. Every Wed. is college student day where students can go see a movie anytime of the day for five dollars if they bring a student I.D. Thursdays are dinner and a movie night. Also, starting Wed. Mar. 3, for their last week before closing, they will be showing fan favorites starting with Forrest Gump. Thursday they will show The Wizard of Oz, Friday they will have a local rapper General Money come in and perform, Saturday will be The Big Chill, and Sunday, the last day, they will be showing the Oscars. For the Oscars they are encouraging people to come dressed up. There will be food and prizes for the best dressed.
Ray and Lovett are very open to suggestions for what people want to see, in fact they encourage it, especially when the new auditorium opens for concerts. They want input on who to bring in for concerts and other things like comedy shows. “We are always looking for input on what people are interested in,” said Lovett. With all these new comings and high expectations for the theatre it seems to be exactly what Plymouth needs and has been looking for. This could potentially open up a lot of doors for new and local artists as well as get well-known artists right here in Plymouth. The sky is the limit, especially if you’re a flying monkey.
The Flying Monkey is located at 39 South Main Street, Plymouth, NH. The phone number is 603.536.2551. Matinees are five dollars and movies at night are eight dollars. For more information about The Flying Monkey go to Thecman.com and click on The Flying Monkey.
You can email your suggestions to lisamonkey@thecman.com, or stevemonkey@thecman.com. And on a last note, Ray said that if any student who comes in to see a movie and brings a cut out of this article, will get a free future movie. Tell them The Clock sent you.