The State Theatre is a comfortable, family-friendly movie house showing first-run, second-run and vintage films at affordable prices in Chamberlain, SD – since 1931!
About
Admission
$7 adults
$5 kids, seniors, military
matinees $5 – first show on Saturday & Sunday
discount tuesdays $5
We sell (and honor) movie passes given to friends, families and as rewards!
Stop by and check out our selection of gift packs – and sample some of our delicious concessions. Our popcorn is considered among the very best!!
History
The State Theatre was opened in 1931, and got its name from a contest. On Fridays, the Theatre showed Western films, and the original owners. Eiler (Ike) Sorensen and Bernard Beck, wouldn’t allow popcorn in the auditorium for fear of mice – and to avoid competition with a business selling it across the street.
The building remained in the Sorensen family for many decades, with Florence Sorensen living above the auditorium until her 90th year. Donna & Jeff Buche took over the theater management, and bought the building on a contract that paid Florence for her lifetime. After her passing, the family sold the building to the Buches, who operated the theatre and a popular video rental and sales business there for many decades – right through the COVID pandemic.
Bethany & Scott Simenson purchased the Theatre, after the video store was shut down. They transformed State Theatre back into a single business success, showing quality, first-run films to audiences anxious for family-friendly entertainment.
State Theatre was purchased on Valentine’s Day 2024 by Adrian & Kirby Laney. New arrivals in Chamberlain, the Laneys came to Central South Dakota in January 2022, attracted in part by the town’s operational cinema. Adrian, a big fan of American Westerns, hopes to someday be able to show a few vintage cowboy movies, like the ones he watched as a child, in Australia. Kirby, a writer, looks forward to bringing the stories that delighted and enlightened her, inspiring her as a storyteller, from the time-tested classics of Hollywood.
