In its 111 years, the Somerville Theatre has seen quite a lot: two pandemics, two world wars and the likes of Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Tracy Chapman. Through it all, it has continued to bring joy to moviegoers and filmmakers alike.
In 2025, the Fraiman family sold the theater business to a group of longtime employees, who have been continuing the theater’s legacy under the name CSB Theatres. One of the three new owners is longtime employee Ian Judge. His journey to becoming the Somerville Theatre’s creative director began with a childhood fascination with animation.
Following his passion, Judge graduated college with a degree in film. He proceeded to work for Loews theaters before being hired as general manager of the Somerville Theatre in 2002. Since then, Judge has played a key role in revitalizing the theater, overseeing numerous upgrades over the years.
“The arc of my career has been improving the theater, its programming and its facility … and adding new programs,” Judge said. “When I first started managing there, it was kind of a rundown second-run movie theater. And now, it’s a first-run movie theater … We’ve vastly redone and restored the facility, added new amenities and projection improvements.”
Judge currently manages all movie programming, live event bookings and onsite operations. With only three screens, only a select few films can be shown. In making selections, what Judge describes as the most fun part of the job, he chooses between first-run films and classic films.
Other parts of the job, however, have been more challenging. As with other brick-and-mortar businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic marked a difficult time for the Somerville Theatre. Despite the disruption, Judge helped the theater adapt to lockdown conditions.
“We took advantage of that time to do some big construction and restoration work in the theater since it had to be closed anyway. The biggest thing was we rebuilt the Crystal Ballroom on the second floor and then we refreshed the lobby,” Judge said.
Judge explained how in addition to improving the facilities, the theater values keeping its equipment up to date to provide viewers with the best experience possible.
“Our main theater has probably the best booth on the East Coast. We have 4K laser projection, we have 70-millimeter projection — which is archival film quality — and 35-millimeter projection,” Judge said.
According to Judge, films should be viewed as they were intended to be experienced at the time of their creation. For example, if a film was shot on film, it should be seen on film.
Rhys Flynn, a sophomore at Tufts and vice president of the Tufts Film Club, agreed that one should watch movies in the theater.
“There’s a level of reverence or respect. Walking in, you [think], ‘This is a theater. I need to watch this and be quiet,’” Flynn said. “[In] the environment that [a] theater creates you’re … [as] close as you can get to experiencing watching movies the way the director intended.”
Beyond technical quality, Judge emphasized the value of the shared energy that comes with seeing a film as part of an audience in a theater and the community that results.
“We offer people … an opportunity to have a social and communal experience. … Seeing a movie with an audience is … really a completely different experience than watching it by yourself or on a phone, computer or TV,” Judge said. “Seeing it with an audience is far superior, and it’s definitely what filmmakers, for the most part, intend you to see.”
Echoing Judge’s sentiment, Professor Malcolm Turvey, director of the Film and Media Studies Program at Tufts, shared his perspective on why the movie theater experience remains irreplaceable.
“There is nothing like the theatrical experience, as far as I am concerned, and there is a lot of empirical evidence to support this view,” Turvey wrote in an email to the Daily.
Turvey explained that psychologists study a phenomenon known as “emotional contagion,” in which we “catch” the emotions of others. This, he wrote, is what often makes watching films in a theater so much more emotionally powerful than watching them alone or with a few others at home. Our emotional responses reinforce each other and become more intense as a result.
Turvey added that local theaters provide an added benefit: They are able to be more creative than bigger theaters typically are able to be.
“Local theaters typically show more artistically ambitious films than do theater chains, as important as the latter are. An art form is not just dependent on artworks, but on the infrastructure that allows those works to be made, distributed, and exhibited. Local theaters constitute a big part of that infrastructure,” Turvey wrote.
Flynn elaborated on that idea, emphasizing the importance of small theaters for both filmmakers and audiences.
“Filmmakers having small indie theaters like the Somerville … gives them havens … to go, meet and … appreciate media,” Flynn said.
He further stressed the importance of protecting small cinemas from being wiped out by larger theater chains.
“Indie theaters are where you’re gonna find the artistic pieces … with less financial backing, because they’re trying to make space for new artists,” Flynn said.
Turvey, who has visited the Somerville Theatre many times, spoke to the importance of the Somerville Theatre in particular.
“It is always wonderful. We are very lucky to have an ecosystem of independent theaters in our area that show independent, foreign, and classic films. In most areas of the country, this is not the case,” Turvey wrote.
Both Turvey and Judge agreed that audiences should watch classic films, not just modern blockbusters, because of the perspective they provide.
“It’s important for the same reason that one should read novels from the past; see paintings, sculptures, and buildings from the past; watch plays, ballets, and operas from the past; listen to music from the past; and so on. Humans are fundamentally historical creatures. We are ‘born in time,’ as Bob Dylan puts it in one of his most beautiful songs,” Turvey wrote. “I don’t think you can properly appreciate a film or any other artwork if you don’t understand its place in the history of art. Thus, you must know something about that history.”
Judge expressed a similar view.
“If you don’t learn your history, you’re doomed to repeat it. To understand the culture that we live in today — and all of its pluses and minuses — it helps to remember the culture that it came from,” Judge said.
Overall, the Somerville Theatre offers the local community a timeless moviegoing experience, pairing unparalleled image and sound quality with a deep sense of cinematic tradition. But to locals, it represents far more than that. It is a cultural hub — a place where indie gems and major blockbusters alike can be experienced together in the shared glow of the big screen.
Watching a film alongside others amplifies every laugh, gasp and moment of awe, creating an energy no living room can replicate. With its thoughtful programming of both contemporary and classic films, the Somerville Theatre remains a must visit.
Correction: Rhys Flynn's first name was originally published with a spelling error. The update to his name was made on Nov. 10.
