The official title of GoggleWorks Center for the Arts’ theater pays tribute to Albert Boscov, the local business titan and philanthropist who tirelessly worked to transform and revitalize Reading.
The new manager for the Albert & Eunice Boscov Film Theatre, which screens independent and international films often ignored by multiplexes, hopes to tap into its namesake’s spirit to spur another transformation.
“I just want to really drive home that there’s so much opportunity for this space, and it can be really flexible,” says Lady Strongman, who has led the 125-seat venue since October. “My dream is that we’ll continue to expand what we think of when we think of the Boscov Film Theatre. As much as I don’t want to change the name, I do want to invite all types of art and performance into this space.”
Strongman, a Reading native — he officiated a wedding in 2012 in the very theater he now manages — received degrees in theater and English from Muhlenberg College and Arizona State University. He spent nearly a decade in Denver, CO, before returning home last year, just in time to apply for the job opening at the theater.
“This is just such a special place,” he says. “It’s such a gift to Reading and to this area. And I’m just gobsmacked that I meet people who still don’t know about the theater or GoggleWorks. So I’m feeling humbled to be a part of this organization, but also seeing that we still have a lot of work in terms of getting ourselves out there.”
New Ways to Get People Engaged
The last few years have required cinema operators to exhibit an unprecedented level of flexibility. First came the exponential rise in streaming services. And then, of course, came COVID.
Strongman says the theater, which opened in 2005, is holding its own.
“I make the joke that I’m the crazy person who elected into managing a film theater during a pandemic,” he says. “We’re doing okay. It’s definitely less about COVID now and more about kind of battling that COVID complacency of everything getting a lot easier to do from home. So we’ve been thinking of new ways to get people engaged.”
Those have included:
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- Building Justice in Berks, a free criminal justice film series that included talkback sessions with local officials.
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- The LGBT + PlaywRIGHTing Series, a partnership between Reading Theater Project, the LGBT Center of Greater Reading and GoggleWorks.
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- The return of the Reading PRIDE film series.
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- Throwback Thursday, featuring a classic film screened on the last Thursday of each month paired with a themed event, e.g., Clue with a costume party and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with a Golden Ticket raffle benefiting the Children’s Home of Reading.
Strongman hopes to use his background in performing arts to eventually stage cabaret shows at the theater — and anything else that can help the arts center make a difference.
“Despite its size and scope, GoggleWorks is still a nonprofit with a pretty cool mission of transforming lives with unique interactions with art,” he says. “And I think that this theater space specifically nestled inside that larger operation has such an opportunity to create events that are really transformative for people.”
Fun Facts
COVID Creative. After reopening following the 2020 COVID lockdown, the theater got creative to keep patrons entertained and safe. One offering allowed gamers to rent the theater to play video games on the big screen.
For the Love of Film. Albert Boscov made his first nickel catching bugs for his father or grandfather. He spent it on the movies and it remained a love throughout his life. – Levi Landis, GoggleWorks executive director.
