(Above) The Odeon Theater in Mason has been entertaining movie-goers since 1928 - the longest continuously operating single screen theater in the west. Kay and Dennis Evans are helping preserve and renovate the historic structure by bringing in music concerts once a month. This month’s act is Butch Hancock. (Below) Rebecca Schuessler serves up the concessions. Photos by Phil Houseal
Details:
The next concert at the Odeon Theater in Mason will be Butch Hancock on Saturday, August 21, 2010. Tickets are $15. Movies are shown Fridays through Mondays. For information: 325-347-9010 or www.theodeontheater.com. The theater is located at 122 Moody Street.
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Big names on a small stage
by Phil Houseal
Aug 11, 2010
Hill Country residents yearning to relive small-town Texas good times can find them right up the road in Mason at the Odeon Theater.
There every Friday through Monday you can watch a recently released movie for $4. Throw in a bag of popcorn and a tall Coke and you’ll still get enough change from your ten-dollar bill to buy a gallon of gas.
And once a month, you can listen to a world class musical act in the 200-seat movie theater. Last month I heard Brave Combo, star of film, concerts, and The Simpsons. On Saturday, August 21 you can have a front row seat with Butch Hancock.
I had no problem finding the Odeon Theater, perched on the southwest corner of the Mason square. The facade looks right out of a McMurtry novel, with its Alamo-style silhouette, neon outlined marquee and tiled streetside ticket window. Inside, Dennis Evans was busy helping the band set up its equipment on the cozy theater stage.
Evans and his wife, Kay, moved to Mason from Austin in 1995. When they learned the theater was to be sold and turned into an antique mall, they joined the board of a nonprofit group whose mission was to save the Odeon.
“The community felt we needed something for the youth to do, so the Odeon Preservation Association was formed to buy the theater and operate it as a nonprofit.”
Many small towns have tried similar “save our theater” campaigns, only to watch their history slide away in the interest of commerce. But in Mason, it’s working.
“It absolutely pays its own way,” Evans said. “Folks come from Brady and Menard for the movies, and as far as Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio just for the concerts.”
The theater typically charges $15 per seat for each concert, with $10 going to the performer and $5 to the theater.
The Preservation group is trying to raise enough money to transform the historic venue - the oldest continually operating single screen movie theater west of the Mississippi - into a multi purpose facility. The work will be done in stages, starting with installing a retractable screen, then a modern lighting system, and after that adding on dressing rooms and rehearsal areas.
“We want to bring live stage productions as well as movies to Mason - anything from dance to music to drama to stage plays.”
So why do people come to tiny Mason, Texas to hear a performer they could catch at some fancier venue?
“I think it is a lot of different things,” Evans said. “People come to listen, and entertainers like to play for an audience that listens. It is like the house concerts we used to do in the past, only they are in a theater.”
That small theater has hosted some big names, including Joe Ely, Eliza Gilkison, Tish Hinojosa, Chris Gage, Ray Benson, Ray Wiley Hubbard, and Willis Alan Ramsay.
About those concession costs.
As I waited for last month’s show to start, I stood behind a lady from Austin who was ordering a large popcorn and large soda. She had a hard time understanding the $3.25 was for BOTH items. She turned to me, shaking her head, and said, “I can drive all the way to Mason, pay for a ticket to see Brave Combo, enjoy popcorn and a drink for less than I can see a movie in Austin!”
“We hear that a lot,” said Rebecca Schuessler, whose family has operated the movie and concession business for years.
As Evans ushered in the last ticket holders and headed to the stage to introduce the act, it was obvious he has a personal interest in keeping the lights of the Odeon lit.
“It has just been my hobby,” he said. “I love music, and I have had the good fortune of being able to connect with some of the people and bring them out here. It’s a fun thing to be able to do.”
“I can’t imagine this town without this theater.”