The Altria Theater recently received improvements including select seat replacements. (Photo courtesy Altria Theater)
From nearly 100-year-old performance spaces to a modern movie venue housed in a historic building, entertainment spaces across Richmond have recently received upgrades to enhance the visitor experience.
Lavish in design, the 1927 Mosque Theater and 1928 Loew’s movie palace attracted large audiences downtown for performances and films. Today, these venerable institutions are the Altria Theater and the Carpenter Theatre at the Dominion Energy Center, respectively, and both offer touring and regional shows in music, dance, theater, comedy and more. As both near their centennials, management group Legends Global is working to keep them up to date. In 2025, the company invested $2.5 million in a joint project to upgrade both venues.
Elevated Experiences
At the Altria Theater, more than 100 seats targeted for repairs were replaced, and new furniture was installed in the lounge areas.
Frictionless weapons detectors have been installed at the entrances of both the Altria Theater and the Dominion Energy Center. The system, called OpenGate, scans for weapons as patrons walk by. In other words, it is no longer necessary for individuals to remove their phone and keys from their pockets, pass through a metal detector, or be wanded by a security guard as they wait in line for entry.
“OpenGate improves both efficiency and comfort while maintaining a high standard of security,” says Glenn Major, general manager of Altria Theater for Legends Global. “It will allow guests to enter the venue with less disruption.”
Both venues were also outfitted in fall 2025 with UltraQ Portable Admission Pedestals. At these stations, guests can scan their tickets themselves instead of relying on an employee with a handheld device.
“The scanners increase the number of patrons that can enter the theater per minute,” says Trent Gray, director of ticketing for Legends Global.
Once inside, visitors will see that the experience at the Carpenter Theatre has also been elevated.
The most recent renovation project added a state-of-the-art audio system designed by the German engineering group d&B Audiotechnik. Patrons can expect an enhanced acoustic experience when shows such as Virginia Opera’s upcoming March 20-22 performances of “Aida” come to the theater. The system, which includes new Yamaha audio mixing consoles, is scaled specifically for the 1,800-seat venue. It’s paired with a lighting system overhaul that will allow technicians more creative control during shows.
“The new audio and lighting systems at the Carpenter Theatre are more representative of today’s concert and production needs,” says Steve Sweet, senior technical director for Legends Global. “Performance technology has come a long way in recent years.”
The former PA system was added during a massive $73 million renovation in 2004, which also saw the acquisition of the neighboring Thalhimers property, creating the three distinct performance spaces that are still there today: the Carpenter Theatre, Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse and Bob & Sally Mooney Hall. That audio system was donated to Gallery5, a nonprofit art gallery and community space in Jackson Ward.
Gallery5 opened in 2005 in a former police and fire station that was built for the neighborhood in 1883. In 2024, the arts space underwent a renovation of its own, returning the stage for musical acts to a more viewer friendly position after moving it during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m so happy that the Dominion Energy Center donated their former PA system to us. We are loving it,” says Gallery5 board chair Megan Nolde. “We had it specially tuned to our space, helping our performers sound even more amazing than they already do.”
The Carpenter Theatre’s new state-of-the-art sound system includes audio mixing consoles scaled specifically for the venue. (Photo courtesy Dominion Energy Center)
Cinema Classics
The decline of the single-screen movie palaces may have led to the Carpenter Theatre’s reinvention as a performance space in the early 1980s. But The Byrd Theatre, a nearly 100-year-old opulent venue, survives as a destination for new and second-run movies to this day. It’s one of the country’s only remaining historic venues that has operated almost continuously as a movie theater.
Last year, the 97-year-old balcony level seats were replaced, completing a project that began in 2017 with new floor-level installations. The original seats were 19 inches wide; the new ones are a more comfortable 24 inches. The $600,000 project also widened the aisles of the theater. As a result of the changes, seating capacity was reduced from 1,200 to just over 990.
To preserve the character of the interior, the new rows were retrofitted with the original 1928 cast-iron end-aisle standards. Additional restorations are planned for the theater to maintain its historic integrity.
Renovations in progress at The Byrd Theatre (Photo courtesy The Byrd Theatre)
Though much more modern than The Byrd — but also housed in a historic building — BTM Movieland at Boulevard Square recently underwent its own upgrades. A $5 million renovation saw the addition of two large auditoriums with 50-foot screens and Dolby Atmos sound in 2025. New, larger screens were installed in the other auditoriums, and all seats were replaced with luxury electric recliners.
The number of screening spaces at the multiplex shrank from 17 to 15, as one smaller auditorium became a new kitchen, while another became a bar, lounge and arcade area called Playland, featuring arcade games and two lanes of duckpin bowling.
Whether you’re waiting for the curtain to rise or the previews to start, 2026 is a great year for enhanced Richmond theater experiences.
