Theaters in Nashua, New Hampshire, come in three kinds: working stages downtown, first-run cinemas a short drive outside the city, and the Main Street movie houses that closed decades ago. Live performance here has roots in the 1830s, and today you can still catch musicals, comedy, and community productions within a few blocks of City Hall.
Which Theaters in Nashua, New Hampshire, Are Open Today?
Four downtown venues carry almost all of the city’s stage work, and each fits a different size of show. The newest is the 201 Main Street arts hall, which opened on April 1, 2023, and hosts concerts, comedy nights, and touring acts. It does not screen movies. Ticket prices tend to stay affordable compared to Boston-area options about 40 miles south.
| Venue | Location | Built or opened | Approximate seats | What you will see there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center for the Arts | 201 Main Street | 2023 | 750 seated, about 1,000 standing | Concerts, comedy, touring shows |
| Edmund Keefe Auditorium | Elm Street | 1936 | 1,500 | Actorsingers musicals, school programs |
| Janice B. Streeter Theatre | 14 Court Street | 1971 (inside the 1870 Central Firehouse) | 150 | Theatre Guild plays, Peacock Players youth shows |
| Hunt Memorial Library Building | Main Street | 1903 (stage use since the 1990s) | 50 | Small-format performances |
Local groups like the Actorsingers, a community musical theater company active since 1955, stage their main productions at the Keefe Auditorium, which the city built as part of its high school and civic complex. The Nashua Theatre Guild has performed since 1961 and works out of the Court Street building alongside the Peacock Players. If you enjoy live entertainment without a long drive, this is one of the best options in a city whose name carries centuries of history.
Seat count explains most sellouts. A house of about 150 seats holds a tenth of the Keefe’s crowd, so a modest turnout fills Court Street on a Saturday night while a large musical across town still has room. Book small stages first.
Where to See a Movie Now That Chunky’s Has Closed
The closest first-run cinemas are AMC Tyngsboro 12, at 440 Middlesex Road just over the Massachusetts line, and Apple Cinemas Merrimack, at 11 Executive Park Drive off the Everett Turnpike. Both are within a 15-minute drive of downtown. Apple took over the former Cinemagic Merrimack 12 space in September 2021.
Finding a cinema near downtown used to be simple. Chunky’s offered dinner and a movie at the same table for years, until the local location and its Pelham sister closed on the same day (details in the closed-venue section below). The chain’s Manchester theater is the one that remained.
Fandango and Showtimes.com list current schedules for screens near the area. What those listing sites don’t make obvious is that search results still surface the old Chunky’s page for this city, so confirm a theater is open on its own website before you drive.
From the 1830 Lyceum to the Main Street Movie Houses
The city’s public halls trace an arc from lectures to Main Street movie houses to suburban multiplexes. Each step of that shift left a building behind, and most of those buildings are gone.
Lyceum (1830)
The Lyceum was a lecture society, not a playhouse. Chartered by 1830, it is believed to be the state’s first organized lyceum, and it offered literary, philosophical, and scientific talks, according to the official city government page. The long list of mayors who governed after the town became a city in 1853 shows how civic life grew around these public halls.
Closed Theaters in Nashua, NH, and Their Dates
Five movie houses came and went between 1911 and 2003, and none survives as a cinema. Cinema Treasures, the volunteer-built database of movie theaters, records these dates:
| Theater | Address | Years showing films | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Theatre | 206 Main Street | 1911 to at least the early 1950s | Building now holds retail |
| Tremont, renamed Daniel Webster in 1948 | 187 Main Street | 1916 to 1973 | Closed in 1973 |
| Park Theatre | 72 Main Street | 1918 to 1955 | Demolished |
| State, later the Star | 172 Main Street | 1927 to the early 1980s | Twinned in the 1970s, damaged by a 1981 fire |
| Nashua Mall Cinema | 100 Coliseum Avenue | 1972 to 2003 | Run by General Cinema, Canad, then Hoyts; demolished |
The Park Theatre has the oddest backstory: it showed films for 37 years inside a former Congregational church built in 1834. The Star outlasted every other downtown screen, and the fire that hit it in 1981 was blamed on a popcorn machine.
Chunky’s Cinema Pub
Chunky’s Cinema Pub combined dinner service with film screenings in a pub-style layout. Families and friends could sit at a shared table, order food, and watch a feature together. It closed on May 9, 2024, the same day as the Pelham location.
Planning a Night Out at a Local Stage
The best time to attend depends on which venue you pick, so match the show to the room first:
- For a touring act or comedian, check the Center for the Arts calendar. With seats retracted, its floor holds about 1,000 standing, so general-admission nights reward arriving early.
- For a full-scale musical, look at the Actorsingers season at the Keefe Auditorium.
- For an intimate play, the Theatre Guild at Court Street is the pick, and booking ahead matters most there.
- For a first-run film, plan on Merrimack or Tyngsboro and check showtimes the same day.
Beyond these halls, the performance scene includes open-mic nights, school plays, and seasonal festivals. The Mine Falls Gatehouse area hosts outdoor events during warmer months. Also check community boards at the downtown library for pop-ups that don’t always appear on major listing sites.
Start with the stage that fits the show you want, then buy tickets early for any house under a few hundred seats. For a first-time experience, pair a Main Street performance with a walk past the old Park and Star sites. Theaters in Nashua, New Hampshire, have shaped the cultural identity of the Gate City for nearly two centuries, and the four working stages downtown carry that tradition today. For more of the city’s past, browse the rest of this local history archive.
Frequently Asked Questions
What movie cinemas are near Nashua, NH?
The closest cinemas are AMC Tyngsboro 12 in Tyngsboro, MA, and Apple Cinemas Merrimack in Merrimack, NH. Both are about a 15-minute drive from downtown. Chunky’s, the former in-city option, closed in 2024.
Does the Nashua Center for the Arts screen movies?
No. The venue focuses on comedy, musical performances, and touring acts. It does not run films.
Are there live performance groups in the area?
Yes. The Actorsingers have staged musicals since 1955, the Theatre Guild has performed since 1961, and the Peacock Players run youth productions from Court Street.
Which working stage occupies the oldest building?
The Court Street theater does. Its 1971 addition wraps the original 1870 Central Firehouse, which makes it older than the 1903 Hunt Building and the 1936 Keefe Auditorium.