"When folks come in on October 15, those little lazy clouds will be headed across the sky," Tampa Theatre's Witecki told Creative Loafing in August. October 15 is the theatre's hundredth birthday. The theatre at 711 N. Franklin St. first opened its doors on October 15, 1926, and the birthday party on that date is sold out.
The calendar gives the rest of Tampa a better deal. The restored room under that ceiling opens to the public earlier in the week, and the first walk-through is free.
A room that has been dark since March
For most of 2026, the Historic Duncan Auditorium has been closed to audiences. WUSF reported that it was scheduled to close March 10 and stay closed through September, with films moved to the much smaller Taylor Screening Room next door. Creative Contractors started a $13.5 million construction contract in February. That work covers plaster and paint restoration, new audio-visual, HVAC, electrical and mechanical systems, a new elevator, new restrooms and concessions, stage truss and theatrical lighting, and refreshed exterior signage and lighting.
The contract is one piece of the Second Century Campaign, which is the theatre's larger $30 million plan. So the room reopening this month has six months of work in it, and members have been able to see it along the way on hard-hat tours.
The order the doors open in
Creative Loafing laid out the full reopening week. Each night opens the room to a slightly wider group.
| Date | Who gets in | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Families of the workers and contractors on the renovation, at a private screening | Private |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Members, at an invite-only party where they pick that night's movie | Invite only |
| Sun., Oct. 11 | Anyone, at the public open house, 1 to 5 p.m. | Free |
| Mon., Oct. 12 | Casablanca, 7 p.m. | $13, members $10 |
| Tue., Oct. 13 | The Wizard of Oz, 7 p.m. | $13, members $10 |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | A Night at the Opera, 7 p.m. | $13, members $10 |
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Centennial Celebration | Sold out |
The first people inside are the families of the crews who did the work. Members come next. Sunday afternoon, the room opens to everyone. Ticket buyers don't sit under the restored ceiling for a full evening until the classic-film nights begin Monday, and by then Sunday's open house has already happened. Online ticket orders for the three film nights carry a $2 service fee.
The film nights have their own reason for being there. Creative Loafing reported that the theatre lost its summer classics series to construction, so these three nights bring a short version of it back.
What Sunday's open house actually offers
The theatre bills the October 11 open house as the public's first chance to tour the restored Duncan Auditorium. Volunteers will be posted around the building to answer questions, and staff will lead mini-tours that start in the lobby. A new Digital Guide will work on your own phone or tablet, with historic photos and information about the building's first 100 years.
At 3 p.m., retired CEO John Bell will join CEO George Levesque onstage to talk about the restoration and take audience questions. That talk is the one fixed time in an otherwise drop-in afternoon. If you want a seat for it, time your visit around 3 p.m.
The gala program on the 15th has comments from theatre officers and Tampa's mayor. After that come Buster Keaton's 1924 silent comedy Sherlock Jr., with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and the Mighty Wurlitzer, and a finale of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, which was also on the 1926 opening-night program. On Sunday you can stand in the same room and ask the people who ran the restoration how it was done.
Where to look once you're inside
Most of the six months went into systems you will never see. A few changes are on display, and Creative Loafing's August report names them.
- The burgundy wall hanging from 1926. The restoration uncovered artifacts from the theatre's past. A burgundy textile from the 1926 opening was among them, and it has been restored and returned to its original place.
- The stars overhead. The stars in the auditorium's night-sky ceiling have been upgraded.
- The clouds. The building opened in 1926 with a cloud machine that sent wispy clouds across the ceiling during shows. That original machine won't be on site. The theatre tested one modern cloud machine, then two running together, and decided the effect wasn't right. Stage Manager and Technical Director Lloyd Pearson then got the theatre's existing machine working again instead.
The paper's first version said the restored clouds came from 1926. Creative Loafing corrected that on August 22: the machine guests will see this fall is believed to date from the 1950s or '60s. So the drifting clouds above you are the ones Tampa audiences watched from the mid-century on, repaired by hand, and not a modern copy of the 1920s effect.
A building that has been rescued once already
The theatre's own centennial page describes the party as a thank-you to "the community that rescued this building 50 years ago." According to the theatre's history, the building was slated for demolition in 1973. Citizens rallied, committees and community leaders pushed, and the City Council then made a deal to buy and preserve it. The theatre gives January 1977 as the date it reopened to the public.
That history explains why the reopening runs in this order. The building is still around because local residents organized for it in the 1970s, and the free afternoon gives today's residents their own look before the formal celebration.
The restoration isn't finished after October
The Duncan Auditorium reopens this month, but the campaign has more phases ahead. Plans beyond the current construction include accessibility upgrades, a restoration of the Mighty Wurlitzer, and a lounge called the Peacock Room. The second and third floors along Florida Avenue are also being converted into education and archive space. That conversion turns more than 3,000 square feet of underused office and storage space into rooms for the theatre's expanding education program.
That means the organ playing Sherlock Jr. on the 15th is an instrument still waiting for its own restoration. In August, the theatre received the largest individual private gift in its history, from Tara Ruberg. Coverage did not disclose the amount.
One more thing hasn't come back yet. The Balcony-to-Backstage tour was paused during construction, and the theatre's page says it will resume after the auditorium reopens. No new dates are posted yet. For the next few weeks, the open house mini-tours and the October ghost tours are the guided ways inside.
After the birthday, October stays busy
The weekend of the 15th isn't the end of the reopening. "A Nightmare on Franklin Street," the theatre's Halloween series, runs October 19 through 31. It opens with A Nightmare on Elm Street on the 19th and closes with Halloween on the 31st.
Ghost tours are scheduled for October 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31. They cost $15, and members go free. The 11 a.m. tours on October 24 and 31 are already sold out. With the two Saturday-morning slots gone, the other listed dates are the ones still open to book.
For families, the 3 p.m. "Mummy & Me" screening of Hocus Pocus on October 31 is free for kids 12 and under. Adults pay the standard $13, or $10 for members. For December, the theatre's holiday page still shows its 2025 schedule.
Making a night of it on Franklin Street
If you're going to Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz, a few blocks north on Franklin is one of downtown's newest kitchens. Naree, an eight-seat Thai-inspired kaiseki counter from chef Naree Boonyakiat, is at 1202 N. Franklin St., beside Ebbe. With only eight seats, book that reservation before you buy movie tickets, not after.
A practical order for the week:
- Go to the free open house on Sunday, October 11, and plan to be there for the 3 p.m. talk with John Bell and George Levesque.
- Choose one of the three $13 film nights, October 12 through 14, if you want a full evening under the restored ceiling.
- Book a ghost tour other than the sold-out 11 a.m. slots on October 24 and 31.
- Keep the 3 p.m. Hocus Pocus screening on October 31 in mind for anyone 12 and under.
Restorations like this one come down to the same questions every older property raises: which original details are worth saving, what the systems behind the walls cost, and how much value careful work adds. If you own an older home in Tampa or are weighing one, Mazzotta Mallios Homes can show you what your home's history and recent updates are worth in today's market. Get your instant home valuation and start with a number.
