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Indie film theater, art gallery coming to WeCo


Starting March 4, independent film lovers won’t have to leave York to catch first-run independent films.

Small Star Art House will open at 232 W. Market St., York, on First Friday, March 4, said owner Patti Stirk. The 22-seat “micro-theater screening room” will be open for matinee shows and two evening shows, Thursday through Sunday. The theater will be housed at 236 W. Market St., inside the building Stirk owns with her husband, Jeff Hines, but the spaces are connected and people will enter through the door at 232, Stirk said.

The space behind the door at 232 W. Market St., will be occupied by a retail arts gallery.

The items in the gallery will include works by Carmen Walsh, of York PA Stuff. Walsh will curate other art to display in the space, Stirk said.

Small Star Art House is a business, Stirk said, but one she created because she has a personal interest in independent film and she knows others in York do, too.

She is one of several people in York who she called “film buffs,” who occasionally travel out of town, to Baltimore or Harrisburg, when they want to see a new independent film. While there, they would have dinner, spending money in the communities they visited.

“So why don’t we capture that here?” Stirk said of the thinking behind opening a local theater.

Small Star Art House will fill a different niche than the Capitol Theatre in York, Stirk said, since her venue has just 22 seats and will aim to show some films the same day they’re released. Stirk said that she hopes to add more seats to the venue.

The theater will be BYOB, tickets will be $10 and can be ordered online or in person until they're sold out. Stirk hopes to eventually have beer tastings, food options, possibly from food trucks, and even film discussions in the future.

For now, she's happy to have a place so close to home to watch indie films to fill the need she saw locally, and bring people to a neighborhood she loves.

"Our intent is to try to help other businesses in the area to grow," Stirk said. "To continue to build that energy in the WeCo neighborhood."

If you go:

What: Grand opening, ribbon cutting at Small Star Art House, which includes an art gallery space and a 22-seat "micro-theater."

Where: 232 W. Market St., in the WeCo neighborhood in York.

When: 4:30 p.m., First Friday, March 4.

More info: www.SmallStarYork.com