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I WAS GLAD WE COULD BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO IT AND LET IT BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO US." - JIM CRISP " palace designed by the same people who did the Fox in Atlanta with gorgeous, elaborate Middle Eastern themes. It opened right as talking pictures were taking hold and just before the great stock market crash. But when we got it, it had come to such disrepair. At one point, Belk was using the back part for storage and the front area – our gallery lobby area – had been a shoe store." Crisp particularly remembers one day during early renovations. "I was at our old building, which was just across the street, and Chris Sheridan Jr. came over, excited about what they were finding – especially in the lobby," Crisp said. "He told me I had to come right away and look." What crews were finding was that under "hideous, green shag carpeting" and beyond "layers of thick paint" was the original terrazzo flooring, portions of elaborate crown moldings and barrel-vaulted ceilings, much of which was carefully kept, restored or re-created. Crisp credits an initial $100,000 grant from the Peyton Anderson Foundation and the foresight of then-foundation head Juanita Jordan for allowing eatre Macon to start renovations at the Ritz and make them possible. He said at the time he didn't fully realize the depth of her love for Macon's downtown or desire to see it renewed. "I took her on a tour before anything happened and you could see the twinkle in her eye," Crisp said. "She saw something we didn't even see and was looking beyond the restoration and establishing a theater to what it would mean in those early days when revitalization was more dream than reality." Crisp said it's meaningful to him that eatre Macon's new home has the heritage it does. "I love that it had been a theater," he said. "I felt that and I was glad we could breathe new life into it and let it breathe new life into us. It harkens back to earlier days when so many theaters were being established. I think it gives us a shared historic spirit with wonderful theaters like the Douglass and the Grand." At the modern-day Hargray Capitol eater, Hubble Beasley has been manager and handling shows and events since 2015. "We've done family and kid-friendly shows and events from dog acts to U Create Macon's youth-made film festivals to Otis Redding Foundation's camps and shows," Beasley said. "ere have been fundraisers for churches and organizations here and we're a regular venue for the Macon Film Festival. We do a lot of things, but the main thing is our concerts. From country and western to roots music, to hip-hop to jazz to all kinds of rock, we're able to bring in a really diverse range of performers." Beasley said nationally-known acts like the Gregg Allman Band and Marshall Tucker have performed, as well as the likes of Ryan Bingham, Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson. Popular regional and local bands are mainstays but the theater also brings highly acclaimed but lesser-known performers like singer-songwriter-guitarist Ani DiFranco and banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck. "And we do have people drop by and ask to look around," Beasley said. "Some say they met their spouse-to-be here or had a first date or even proposed here. ere's a lot of history within these walls." OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020 | maconmagazine.com 61