Movie theaters across the state are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted several individuals.

Sierra Community Theatre in Jefferson is one of those movie theaters hit hard by the outbreak and was forced to temporarily close by Governor Kim Reynolds public health emergency proclamation in mid-March. Manager Sarah Nicholason describes the impact the closure had on the theater.

“Well the most immediate thing was that the staff got laid off, myself included. But I’m still helping out in a volunteer capacity for anything that needs to be done in the fill-in.”

Nicholason believes that when the theater is allowed to be open again, the entire staff will be hired back and return to their capacities before the temporary closure.

“Just because we had five employees who are very dedicated, and thankfully most of them have other work, or had other work, so this isn’t hurting them as bad as it could, which we are grateful for. But we want people to know that they worked really hard for us and we’re going to work really hard to have them all back.”

Nicholason points out that movie studios will continue to release films when theaters are open again, but the timeline is up in the air of when that will happen. In the meantime, she says they are doing different things, such as a popcorn drive-thru fundraiser, promoting online gift card purchases and will continue to receive financial donations as a non-profit organization.