If you haven’t seen a show at the historic Rives Theatre in uptown Martinsville, Virginia, you’re missing out. This former movie house is celebrating its sixth year as a live music venue and community space dedicated to arts and education. Managed by the nonprofit Arts at the Rives Theatre (ART), the theater, which dates back to 1932, is run solely by volunteers.
One of those volunteers is Shane Pinkston, ART president, who joined the board three years ago after watching the theater become the anchor of the Martinsville live music scene.
“I’ve always been a music lover,” he explains. “Watching the Rives evolve has been amazing. People are coming from Roanoke, Floyd, Danville, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, and beyond. Our radius has been expanding.”
ART is a community non-profit dedicated to promoting the historic Rives Theatre as a space for music, art and education in uptown Martinsville.
Tickets to all Rives Theatre concerts can be purchased online from www.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets are also sold locally at the Daily Grind and Woodall’s Music within 2-3 weeks of the actual show date. For more information, visit www.rivestheatre.com or call 276-403-0872.
The theater has grown from 12 shows a year to 25 last year with even more on tap for 2016. “One of thing at the Rives that has resonated is we’ve put a lot of effort into production adding a new sound system, new lights and a new backdrop and expanding the dance floor,” Pinkston said.
Contributing to the Rives growing popularity is that in addition to offering patrons the chance to watch sporting events on the super big screen in the upper theater such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament, it also serves as the preview venue for the Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival.
The partnership has helped bring in recent acts such as Donna the Buffalo, Peter Rowan, Mandolin Orange, Mountain Heart, Love Canon, The Trongone Band, Tim O’Brien and Yarn, to mention just a few.
“We have all kinds of bands not just bluegrass and Americana but New Orleans funk and blues,” Pinkston adds. “We’re starting to reach a critical mass.”
To that end, the Rives has several upcoming offerings that range from The Steel Wheels on Saturday, April 9, to the Rooster Walk Preview weekend featuring FloydFest veterans Major and the Monbacks with The Southern Belles on Friday, April 22, and the Wild Ponies on Saturday, April 23.
Tickets to all Rives Theatre concerts can be purchased online from www.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets are also sold locally at the Daily Grind and Woodall’s Music within 2-3 weeks of the actual show date. For more information, visit www.rivestheatre.com or call 276-403-0872.
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