Stowe's Parkway Theater is serving up spaghetti with its Western films

They may not have all the latest summer blockbusters or the latest advancements in sound technology. But small, single-screen independent movie theaters still offer a value proposition that's hard to beat.

Like say, a series of Spaghetti Westerns with actual spaghetti — and Italian bread from Mancini's.

That's the strategy of the Parkway Theater in Stowe, which begins this particular series July 17 with a screening of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood's classic “A Fistful of Dollars.” On the third Thursday of every month, there will be another, including some of the more obscure Italian-made Westerns of the 1960s.

“You can't go to Cinemark and see an old-fashioned Western and get a spaghetti meal,” says Parkway Theater owner Aaron Stubna.“You've just got to get creative if you're trying to pull people back into these little theaters. You've got to give them a reason to come back out. We're more like a film center, like curators of an art gallery. We hand-pick certain films — ‘You've got to see this, and here's the reason why.'”

Other upcoming film series include a Foreign Film Destination Series; Scorsese Summer School Session, featuring the films of Martin Scorsese, starting with “Mean Streets” on Aug. 9; and a Family Night with board games and a screening of “The Jungle Book,” also on Aug. 9.

In November, there will be a gnocchi-making class followed by a screening of “Big Night” (1996), the movie about two brothers (played by Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub), attempting to run an Italian restaurant.

The Parkway Theater started showing movies again in 2012. Stubna, a barber by trade, bought the property after his plan to buy and revitalize the Garden Theater on the North Side fell apart. The Parkway screen had been dark for 25 years.

Stubna, a resident of nearby Kennedy, grew up going to see movies there in the '80s.

“We don't know for sure, but from talking to old-timers in the neighborhood, it dates back to the '30s,” he says. “Surprisingly, the township has no information on it, and I haven't had time to go Downtown and research it. I'm a one-man show.”

Stubna still keeps his day job at the family business, the Lincoln Barber Shop in Bellevue.

“I have a real job,” he says. “This is a passion project. We just got our nonprofit status in April. If you research a lot of these one-screen theaters, a lot of them are nonprofit.

“Movie theaters don't really bring in much money. But what they can do for a community — and these little walkable towns — can help out a lot.

“If you're familiar with Stowe, it's a very depressed area. But it has all that old architecture, and we're just trying to help bring it back to life. Rebuilding the business district is a good way to start.”

There have been some good signs recently.

“Lot of bad landlords own property here, and don't seem to care,” Stubna says. “It takes a few of us. There's little restaurant (the 1905 Eatery) in a building that was almost falling down. A local guy bought it, restored it and opened a restaurant.”

Stubna is trying to gradually introduce some fun, offbeat programming to the Parkway Theater, to get different audiences interested.

“Our real first success was Stoogefest in April 2013,” he says. “We did it again this April.”

“Another thing we're doing is Sunday Morning Movie Service, classic movie, doughnuts and coffee for $4. We're kicking off with ‘Planet of the Apes' on July 27. It will be every second Sunday.”

The lineup also includes: “The Hustler” (1961), “Key Largo” (1948), “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938) and “King Kong” (1933).

At the moment, the Parkway Theater is only about halfway to where Stubna wants it to be. Screenings are still irregularly scheduled.

“We're not fully-restored yet,” Stubna says. “When you step into the theater, it is what it is. It's rough. We want a bar-restaurant in front. We want to cut the theater in half. The lobby and coffee shop — I re-did that. It looks pretty cool. We have the marquee, which doesn't work. We're painting our new logo on there. A local artist is doing it for free. Some Art Institute students are doing the logo. It has a coffee mug with steam, with a filmstrip coming out.”

At some point, it may even become more than a “one-man-show.”

For now, though, it's mostly that.

“My wife and I are making the spaghetti,” he says.

Michael Machosky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7901 or mmachosky@tribweb.com.