The Darien Playhouse is a first run theatre… when re-opened, the entrance will be in the back of the theatre, and the lobby on the side… the seating in both theatres will begin where the carpet used to cross the floor seats half way down, so you will always be sitting on top of the screen, and the beloved balcony will be only a memory… But we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.Arthur Collins Sr., a developer of upscale office and housing complexes along the Eastern Seaboard, and Thomas E. Golden, president of the Thomas E. Golden Realty Company in Darien, are redeveloping the 21,500-square-foot theater building, built in 1926. Closed for seven years in the 1980’s, it was purchased by United Artists and reopened as a two-screen theater, but closed again before the two men took it over. Mr. Collins said, “We had to find a way to save it for the town, but movie rents are barely a break-even, so we had to get other income.”
