The historic, 111-year-old Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin will begin a nearly yearlong renovation project on June 16 to upgrade and preserve the beloved Texas venue.
Kelsey Thompson/MySA
One of Texas’ oldest and most beloved theaters is bidding a temporary farewell to audiences as it kick-starts a historic, nearly yearlong renovation effort, with its official closing date scheduled for today, Tuesday, June 16.
The Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin has dazzled Texans and visitors alike for more than 100 years since it first opened as The Majestic in 1915. It’s hosted scores of performers whose legacies have withstood the test of time, including magician Harry Houdini, renowned jazz artist Duke Ellington, Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn and renowned essayist Dr. Maya Angelou. Now, 111 years onward, it’s poised to begin its most ambitious renovation plan in nearly 50 years, investing millions of dollars into maintenance and preservation work for the next century.
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Jim Ritts — CEO and executive director of the Austin Theater Alliance, the nonprofit that owns the Paramount Theatre, the State Theatre and the Moontower Comedy Festival — told MySA this massive overhaul of the Paramount is one that’s been over a decade in the making. Dubbed the “Shine On” campaign, the 11-month campaign will bolster both guest amenities and restoration work that’ll help the venue shimmer in all of its 20th-century glory. Following Paramount’s customized TLC work, the State Theatre will begin its own complete overhaul in summer 2027, with its improvements slated to take between 13 and 16 months to complete.
A rendering of the interior lobby renovations planned at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin.
Courtesy the Austin Theatre Alliance, Ever Greene
A rendering of the interior auditorium renovations planned for the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin.
Courtesy the Austin Theatre Alliance, Ever Greene
“You’re seeing this extraordinary ornamentation of this theater, and it is beautiful, but it needs a little work,” Ritts said. “What we will be doing is literally going over the entire ornamentation of everything in the auditorium and in the inner lobby. It will all be refreshed, it’ll all be made consistent with the color palette that was appropriate to 1930 when the then-Majestic theater became the Paramount Theatre.”
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The reason behind Paramount Theatre’s lengthy closure
With the Paramount being on the National Historic Registry, there are specific requirements and restraints that can play into renovation projects. In the case of the Paramount, Ritts said the Austin Theater Alliance is honoring those stipulations while still working to amplify guest amenities, including a complete replacement of all 1,273 seats within the theater, upgraded lighting and sound capabilities and expanded concessions for patrons.
“You’re still going to have the intimacy and the feel of its being around for 111 years, but it’s going to sound and look the way it should,” he added. “So you’re taking a modern approach to the sound and the visual aspects of it, but you are holding on to the decades, century-old feeling of intimacy that’s so critical to every show and every performance that’s in this theater.”
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Project filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation last month outlined an estimated $21.7 million construction cost for the renovations. Ritts confirmed the ongoing Shine On capital campaign has already raised $32 million of its $65 million total goal, adding it’s a testament to the Austin community and its love and patronage for the arts.
“We have so many different forms of live performance — we have live music, we do so much comedy, we do thought pieces, and we have individual authors and writers coming in and doing things with us,” he said. “We do burlesque! You name it, we do it here.”
A rendering of the exterior and updated facade of the State Theatre in downtown Austin.
Courtesy the Austin Theatre Alliance, Clayton Korte
A rendering of the future speakeasy planned at the State Theatre in downtown Austin.
Courtesy the Austin Theatre Alliance, Clayton Korte
With its estimated 11-month project timeline, Ritts said his team has gotten creative in leaning into Austin’s robust live entertainment scene to continue Paramount-branded screenings and events at other venues. Alongside the State Theatre, the Paramount will be working alongside the Hogg Memorial Auditorium on the University of Texas at Austin’s campus, the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center as well as ACL Live at the Moody Theater to get the good times — and productions — rolling.
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While the Paramount won’t be open in time for the 2027 South by Southwest Conference & Festivals, art industry gurus are no strangers to a little extra tenacity and creativity. It’ll be a near-year of altered operations, but the payoff? That will preserve these legacy Austin institutions for the next 111 years of live entertainment, lectures and pure, unadulterated movie-going magic.
“It’ll probably be exhilaration,” Ritts said, describing the anticipatory emotions when the Paramount returns to operations next year. “I think for our entire team of folks, maybe pride. When you’ve been working on something like this and you go through economic ups and downs, you go through a pandemic, and all those sorts of things, and you go, ‘yeah, but we finally arrived here?’ I can’t imagine that we won’t have a strong sense of pride.”