Rufus de Rham outlines plans for Warner
On Feb. 18 the historic Warner Theatre in Torrington announced its new executive director. Rufus de Rham comes to the position after spending the last year and a half as the executive director of the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council. Before that, he spent over a decade in New York, working for a number of different film societies and film archives. “My background is in moving image archiving and preservation,” the 35-year-old de Rham said in a phone interview Wednesday night. “I was one of the early
English-language archivers of Korean films.” He takes over from Lynn Gelormino, who became executive director in 2014 and announced her retirement in February.
The Warner boasts a massive communitybased theater operation. It also screens movies (including the Metropolitan HD Live series), books touring acts (comedian Kevin James performs there in June), has classrooms and rehearsal spaces and houses the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory’s
performance space.
Returning to Connecticut was a choice
“I grew up in Kent. My family goes back several generations here, as we tend to do in this region. My partner, she’s from Salisbury. We bought a house in Kent, looked for work in the area, and I found the arts council. Then this happened.
“Part of the attraction is the history of the theater. My grandparents used to see movies there on dates. I have young relatives who go there now. I’m interested in that intergenerational history.
“I loved the work I did at the Arts Council but this is a better fit for me.”
He’s not anticipating any massive changes
“The community theater aspect is working so well, including the great education programs they run, that I don’t see making any changes there.
“My main questions are, how can we squeeze in more films? How can we get a few more national acts to come? We’re impacting the entire region. The Warner is the biggest arts organization in the entire region. We should be able to broaden our audience, attract people from further away. It’s the same thing as with the film festivals I’ve done. You start small, then build it up gradually.
“Lynn Gelormino and the staff did a great job of taking the reins. I have a very stable platform to work on. Lynn has also agreed to stay on so we will overlap for two weeks and have a smooth transition.”
He co-founded a group that saved video from the Occupy Wall Street movement
“It was called Activist Archivists. We went to Zuccotti Park and worked with Witness and Human Rights Watch to teach the protesters how to document with video, safely and legally. These were important documents, which we then were able to archive. A pretty good amount have ended up at NYU.”
Now he’s a community arts activist
“The local aspect is what has brought me back to exhibiting and presenting. The arts is not just about the content of what’s on the stage. It’s about the community context. We’ll be activating community interest. This is about relationship building, community building.
“There is affordable, world-class stuff going on in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. There’s no reason people can’t drive 40 minutes to see great community theater at affordable prices, at arguably one of the most beautiful theaters in the country.”
The Warner Theatre, built in 1931, is at 68 Main St, Torrington. For a list of upcoming events and more information, visit warnertheatre.org.