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Comedian John Hodgman pleads for buyer to revive Colonial Theatre

Actor, comedian, podcast host, and sometime Mainer John Hodgman released a video on Twitter, encouraging people to join the effort to save the theater.

BELFAST, Maine — Belfast's Colonial Theatre is for sale.

In the fall the historic space closed its doors. Then in April a group of people came together to work on turning the theater into a nonprofit

Now it's on the market. The historic theater is listed on Worth Real Estate LLC for $1.3 million.

The building's current owners say the theater is the oldest in the state, opening its doors on the same day the Titanic set sail.

Inside you'll find a concessions area, two movie screens, and one stage.

The listing calls this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, adding that the theater has a loyal and passionate following.

That includes actor, comedian, podcast host and sometime Mainer John Hodgman.

He released a video on Twitter over the weekend, encouraging people to join the effort to save the theater.

Hodgman spoke about a similar, successful effort at his hometown theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. 

"Going out to the movies is really, really good. It's a really good thing to do," he said. "Especially a small, independent movie theater at the center of your downtown. Movies, wherever you see them, make our word bigger. But theaters like the Colonial draw our communities closer together at the same time."

The entertainer, who plays the part of a judge arbitrating friendly disputes in his podcast "Judge John Hodgman," also revealed that the documentarians who told the story of the rescue of his beloved Brookline theater are gearing up to do the same with the Colonial.

Plus, Hodgman said, that the permanent loss of the Colonial could have unintended, disastrous consequences. 

"If the Colonial disappears, if this beautiful building goes away, the elephant on the roof is going to fall down," he said. "Then it will come to life, and it will be very, very angry. And I don't want to be responsible for that."

The elephant on the roof got there because the building's former owner, Mike Hurley, also runs a business called Fiberglass Farm. They source fiberglass statues for all sorts of events, from birds to go on the Maryland shore to a life-sized bobblehead of former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.

Hurley told NEWS CENTER Maine in 2014 that these creations are often the victims of theft.

"What could be more attractive?" he said. "This happens all the time. ... Every one of these art events that has bears or cows or if you put a big fiberglass ice cream cone out in front of your ice cream stand, somebody's gonna steal it."

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