State Theatre

We were there around Christmas to see the Nutcracker. The place was beautiful clean. Staff was friendly. They only thing I wasn’t ok with was there was no sitting in the waiting area. There wS elderly people who need to have a sit and there wasn’t one.

Nice location with a good variety of shows, both live and film. Very clean auditorium with comfortable seating, and a snack bar that serves normal theater treats plus beer, wine and some gourmet treats from a local store around the corner.
Friendly staff, with the only exception being the snarky blond server at the snack bar, who instead of answering a question about refills on popcorn with a polite, «No, I’m sorry, we don’t do refills» says that yes, she will refill your popcorn and then charge you full price. This may seem like no big deal, but it’s done with really smart-​a. attitude. BTW, it isn’t that unusual of a question for a movie theater.
It doesn’t matter if you think that people shouldn’t ask for a refill, you still need to answer politely. She seems to gets a little pleasure out of humbling those daring fools who think they have nothing to lose by asking. Be warned, don’t ask! Take your 1oz (2 cups), $ 3 popcorn and be grateful.
We are not overweight junk food junkies, we just love popcorn when we go to the movies. We don’t smuggle food in, we try to support the local business. But as my husband said when he saw the popcorn at the State Theater, «I will never again feel ripped off when I buy popcorn at the theater across the street!» For the record, that’s 20 cups for $ 8, + free refills.
The funny thing is, I would not have made this review a rant about the small popcorn if the woman at the snack bar had simply and politely answered the question. There would have been plenty of jokes about the state trying to making payroll by selling popcorn at my house, but it would have stopped there. Instead, I got smart-​a. service and now I’m irritated.

I CANNOT BELIEVE that no one has reviewed this iconic spot yet. Crawl out from under your rocks people — especially you locals!!!
The history of this theatre — from 1938 to its now FABULOUS renovation/​resurrection in 2013 is a wonder. We’ve so far enjoyed 4^th-​row center seats for the «Bruce Hornsby» concert (FABULOUS 2−½ hr. no-​breaks show), «Lyle Lovett (again FABULOUS 2−½ hr. no-​breaks show), & an absolutely wonderful Marx Brothers film festival last night («Duck Soup», an episode of Groucho’s «You Bet Your Life», & «A Night at the Opera») — all presented by the wonderful Frank Ferrante, who has made a career out of outstandlingly portraying Groucho in a one-​man show that he’s done internationally for many years now. In fact, he’s doing his one-​man show tonight at the State Theatre, for which I think tickets are still available .
We joined as members ($ 90/​annual, tax deductible), which gives us early ticket-​buying privileges. Worth every penny. Décor is modern/​sparse — acoustics are wonderful. We’ve already bought tickets for every venue of interest to us through the end of the year — & I encourage everyone here to do the same.
One perk that we really love? Especially since we frequently visit the Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville, as well as Wolf Trap in Vienna, & The Birchmere in Alexandria? Once leaving the State Theatre in Culpeper, we’re 10 minutes from home. :)
I encourage everyone within driving distance to start considering this venue if they enjoy good movies, good shows, & good talent; comfortable seating (there really aren’t any «bad» seats in this house); & reasonable prices.