Originally published March 17, 2009 at TheTowerlight.com. Photos by Tyler Waldman.

Monday evening’s town hall meeting at Baltimore’s historic Senator Theatre started like many screenings had over the last 20 years, with a speech by the theater’s owner, Tom Kiefaber.

“I didn’t call this meeting,” Kiefaber said in front of a crowd of more than 500 people. “I wanted to welcome you all at least one more time to the historic Senator Theatre.”

He was met with a minute-long standing ovation, a stark contrast to the tone of the night’s events. Kiefaber, who has run the theater since 1988, said he was deeply touched.

“It was honestly probably one of the more emotional experiences of my life, when I just offered a simple welcome and got people standing and applauding,” he said. “It was overwhelming and believe me, I’ll never forget it.”
The meeting comes several days after 1st Mariner Bank, which holds the theater’s mortgage, announced plans to move ahead with foreclosure proceedings on the Senator. An auction could be held as soon as mid-April. Monday morning, the theater announced in a press release that Sunday evening’s screening of “Watchmen” would be the final first-run film screening there for the foreseeable future, citing Kiefaber’s troubles fulfilling his payroll.

“Hopefully the urgency of the situation was transmitted, if nothing else,” Kiefaber said.
According to the bank, a payment has not been made on the theater’s $940,000 debt since September. About $600,000 of the theater’s loan is guaranteed by Baltimore City. Collateral attached to the loan includes two houses adjacent to the theater as well as Kiefaber’s house in Sparks, Md. The properties could be seized by the bank if not enough money is raised by the theater’s auction.

Kiefaber and others have been negotiating a deal between the bank, Baltimore City and the State of Maryland to transfer ownership of the theater to the Senator Community Trust, a non-profit organization of community and business leaders. The city would assume the rest of the theater’s debt. The trust would then contract management of the venue to a private company or investor. The details of the plan had not yet been finalized when 1st Mariner accelerated foreclosure procedures.

Nothing was decided at the Monday meeting, which was primarily used to gauge community reactions.

“My goal was to try to find some consensus about action steps going forward,” Sean Brescia, owner of Clearpath Management and an informal spokesman for the Senator Community Trust at Monday’s meeting, said. “We’ve heard a lot of consensus about the community being willing to step up and buy time if the bank will entertain that. So I think it’s on us to publish that action plan and then kind of go from there and see what happens.”

City Councilman Bill Henry was on hand to explain the city’s plan and the financial situation. According to Henry, numerous organizations expressed interest in taking over the Senator, including Baltimore Collegetown Network and Towson University. The University wanted to use it as space for lectures, films and events. However, no organization was able to present a viable plan for the space.

The meeting ran for three hours, allowing area residents and business owners to air their questions and frustrations with the bank and with local officials. Maria Allwine, a local activist and co-chair of the Maryland Green Party, was one of them. She spoke up at several points during the meeting to voice her concerns, calling the bank’s sudden moves against the theater a “land grab.”

“We should be loud,” Allwine said. “It’s a community treasure, and not just because it’s a first-run movie theater. It’s because of the work Tom does in the community… The community will suffer. Businesses will suffer. People that live around here will suffer if this place is foreclosed upon and is turned into something else like a church or condos.”
Some local residents were still concerned following the meeting.

“What we need to hear back from the community trust is a clear and concise call to action, so that we can work together to get some change,” Shelly Terranova, a Lake Walker resident, said. “A clear call to action at the beginning of the meeting might have set the agenda more quickly.”

Brescia said he is optimistic but realistic. He said he has no doubt the Senator can be saved.

“The question is will the various stakeholders work with us to buy time?” he said. “And I think with consensus and broad community support, they’ll have to.”

By the end of the meeting, several community members had already pledged their support in the form of checks and even loose change given to members of the Senator Community Trust.

“It’s a collective vision that needs to take place here,” Kiefaber said. “My family and I have kept the theater going as long as possible and hopefully there will be a way forward to be able to have it become actually the people’s theater in more than name only.”

Kiefaber said he just looks forward to the ordeal being over. While he will always remember the ovation he received Monday night, it may be the final time he takes the stage to welcome people to the historic Senator Theater.

“I need to move on with my life,” he said. “Frankly, the Senator has always been my dream. The dream has become a nightmare. And I want to wake up from it and move on with the rest of my life and not see the Senator close or be degraded in some way that is not in keeping with the fact it is one of the most extraordinary theaters in the world. I grew up here, literally. My daughter grew up here. My mom grew up here. And my family’s been running it for 70 years, and hopefully the next 70 years will be as illustrious as it was with my family’s ownership.”