About the Theatre:
Vinegar Hill Theatre has one auditorium that seats 219 people. The auditorium and restrooms are handicapped accessible. Although there are steps between the front door and the main lobby level, a wheelchair ramp allows direct access to the auditorium, lobby and restrooms. The ramp is located to the left of the front door as one faces the building.
The theatre is equipped with two Century 35mm projectors. Films are shown the old-fashioned way, with the projectionist smoothly "changing over" from one reel to another with the aid of visual cue marks on the film. It is the only theater in Charlottesville using this system, which results in less wear and dirt on the film print. It is also the only commercial theater in Charlottesville to have one projectionist for one auditorium, resulting in the fewest projection problems in town.
The theatre also has a Hortson 16mm projector for small-format films.
The theatre's sound system consists of a 1999 Smart Mod VI audio processor with Dolby SR emulation driving Hafler amplifiers and Altec and Acoustic Research loudspeakers for five channels of audio (screen left, center, and right; left surround and right surround) plus subwoofer. Sound is read from the optical soundtrack on 35mm film by Kelmar reverse-scan visible-light LED readers. The system is adjusted regularly to insure its proper operation.
