The Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg’s Merchants Square is a perfect blend of a movie theater and a venue that offers live performances (music, dance, plays and even historical figure reenactments).
Imagine this: on your visit to Colonial Williamsburg, one day of the week you head to the Kimball Theatre to take in an award-winning foreign language film, such as Kon-Tiki (which depicts Thor Heyerdahl’s adventure in the late 1940s as he worked to prove that the individuals from South America lived in Polynesia by sailing across the Pacific on a balsawood raft*). This film can’t be found in a typical large cinema megaplex – but the Kimball showed it!
Wednesday night you decide to attend a concert at the Kimball that stars a newly popular songwriter.
Then on Thursday afternoon you head back to the Kimball to hear an actor take over the role of a craftsmen, carpenter or even mason – someone who literally helped build this country – and hear what he has to say about what it was like to be a part of the first years of a new nation.
Return to the theater that evening to watch a farce on 18th century romance, one that made its debut in the Colonies (after entertaining residents “across the pond”) in 1710.
Come back Friday to catch another limited-release film created by an Oscar-nominated director that stars two of the world’s hottest actors working today.
Where else but the Kimball can you see films and watch live performances that evoke today and yesterday? If you know of one, we want to hear about it!
*Most anthropologists now believe South Americans did not settle in Polynesia during pre-historic times.
