The Roxy Theater is a slice of good ole Americana. Built in 1951 by Charles and Ruth Bishop. Charles and his son Dick, laid the foundation by hand, brick by brick. The theater originally sat 430 guests! It’s doors first opened amidst the era of old school Hollywood glamour. The year her story began, was the year A Street Car Named Desire, Alice in Wonderland, and An American In Paris first graced the big screen.

Charles Bishop owned a handful of theaters across the region, including one in Newport, Priest River, Metaline Falls, and another in Cusick. As time passed, the local populations were not large enough to sustain all of his theaters. Charles knew he had to close one down. After drawing straws, he closed the Priest River Roxy Theater. He built a new building in Newport, originally suppose to be called the Just 4 Fun Theater, and took the iconic neon “Roxy” sign from downtown Priest River, and moved it over to Newport.

Charles included a stage in the design for some live events. Charles himself would perform magic shows for the community. 

In 1956, Charles sold The Roxy Theater to his son, Dick and Gladys Bishop. The couple carried on Charles’ legacy and ran The Roxy diligently until 2008. With Dick passed away, Gladys decided it was time to sell the theater to younger hands

The Roxy was sold to Kevin and Kara Wright who ran the theater until 2015. Kevin faced many modern difficulties as small town theaters began dying all across the country. Film companies forced theaters to go from film to digital projectors, raised rental fees, and forced 2-4 week contracts to rent first run movies. Kevin saw no choice but to remodel The Roxy from a single screen grand theater into a 3 screen multi-theater. Unfortunately, the situation did not improve for small town theaters and The Roxy closed its doors in 2015.

In 2017, The Roxy was purchased by Jason and Brittany Totland. The couple breathed some life back into the old theater and opened the doors once again. The Roxy is currently running at half her seating capacity but is sporting prices lower than Spokane’s big theaters. The 2 small theater rooms have been retired and the remodel back to the grand theater has begun. The front “half theater” is the only room currently in operation. 

In 2020, COVID shut the theater down for 6 months. Since then, attendee numbers have not recovered. Hollywood puts out less film every year. The focus has been on bringing in new content in the form of live events!