{"id":170298,"date":"2026-02-26T17:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170298\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:40:30","slug":"tampa-theatre-will-close-its-historic-auditorium-for-6-months-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170298\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Theatre will close its historic auditorium for 6 months. Here\u2019s why."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Just before its 100th birthday in October, downtown Tampa\u2019s iconic movie theater is getting a big update.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Tampa Theatre is kicking off a $13.5 million renovation and modernization project that will spruce up both the inside and outside of the historic building. This renovation is part of a $30 million capital initiative called the Second Century Campaign, which aims to enhance and protect the Tampa landmark at 711 Franklin St.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During the construction, the theater\u2019s historic Duncan Auditorium will be closed from March 10 through the end of September, according to spokesperson Jill Witecki.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/d5a7de11b4738fb7880ab298139f8485.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Duncan Auditorium is the main entertainment space in the theater, with a star-studded night sky ceiling, an ornate stage and 1,252 seats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fans will still be able to catch a film during the renovation. Movies and events will continue through the spring and summer at the John T. Taylor Screening Room, an intimate, 43-seat microcinema that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/life-culture\/history\/2024\/05\/31\/tampa-theatre-micro-cinema-john-t-taylor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:opened in June 2024;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">opened in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/97a4c666cc58e1fe541a48d9fe82e2ca.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Creative Contractors, the firm behind the Taylor Screening Room, will take on Tampa Theatre\u2019s renovation project. The group was also responsible for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/life-culture\/2021\/10\/18\/peek-inside-the-renovated-st-petersburg-high-school\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:historic renovations of St. Petersburg High School;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">historic renovations of St. Petersburg High School<\/a>, the Capitol Theatre and the Academy of the Holy Names on Tampa\u2019s Bayshore Boulevard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Outside, the group will bring refreshed building signage, including enhanced lighting and new paint. Inside improvements include an updated concessions area, a new stage truss system, upgraded lighting and audiovisual enhancements, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The first floor will get new restrooms, and the second and third floors will become new educational and archive spaces. The group is also bringing in a specialty plaster restoration contractor to \u201crestore the main Duncan Auditorium to its original grandeur.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just before its 100th birthday in October, downtown Tampa\u2019s iconic movie theater is getting a big update. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6184,81008,26868,72740,135,137,136,21265],"class_list":{"0":"post-170298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-downtown-tampa","9":"tag-duncan-auditorium","10":"tag-historic-building","11":"tag-renovation-project","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-headlines","14":"tag-tampa-news","15":"tag-tampa-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}