Ryan Janke, President of the Weyburn Theatre Community Service Cooperative, said that the Soo Theatre was built in the 1940's and was "kind of the modern Landmark theatre for Weyburn for almost 70 years." 

In 2017, Janke said there was a catastrophic failure of it's heating system, and the parent company that owned it could not justify the cost of replacing it. 

The community of Weyburn has been without a movie theatre for the past six years now, and the Weyburn Theatre Community Service Cooperative was created to attempt to remedy that situation. 

"You know, a lot of community groups have all said one of the big things we're missing in our community is a movie theatre." 

Janke said that they acquired the building from Landmark, who was really great to deal with, and really disappointed that they couldn't do it themselves, but are very supportive of them and their efforts earlier last year.

"We're working right now to have that building demolished and build a new, larger and more modern state-of-the-art facility." 

As much as it would be wonderful to save the old building, Janke said that "It's kind of damaged beyond repair with the water damage that's been in there with no heat for six years." 

Right now, they are working on salvaging some of the seats, and there is the possibility of getting some more. "Although like I said, there's a lot of water damage in there, but we do have some pretty pristine ones available, so if anyone is interested in that, it's a wonderful piece of history to help preserve and kind of a great keepsake," Janke explained.

He said that they're not really selling the seats per se, but it would great if a donation in kind could be made for every seat.

"And what I want more than anything is if you do have a seat, tell the story, you know, tell everybody about it because nothing beats word of mouth."

Janke added to keep your eyes open for a few major announcements coming up. Anyone interested in seats can contact them at weyburntheatre@gmail.com.