Rig Theater

The Rig Theater is a former cinema on East Hendricks Boulevard in Wink, Texas. It was built in 1928. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.[1] It had a single screen as a cinema and had a seating capacity of 605.[2][3] At the time of the theater's construction it was the only building in Wink made from masonry other than the town's school.[4]

Rig Theater
Location213-215 E. Hendricks Blvd, Wink, Texas
Coordinates31°45′20″N 103°08′46″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1928
Built byGriffith Amusement Co.
Architectural styleEarly Commercial
NRHP reference No.03000770[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 14, 2003

The Rig Theater was the childhood cinema of the young singer-songwriter Roy Orbison, where he spent many hours.[5] Orbison performed at the Rig with his early bands, the Teen Kings and the Wink Westerners. Walt Quigley, a Roy Orbison tribute artist, is raising funds to reopen the Rig Theater and to move Wink's Roy Orbison Museum into the theater's lobby.[6] Graffiti by Orbison and his friends from 1951 was found in the stairway to the balcony in 1999, and is preserved in a display at the Roy Orbison Museum.[7]

It is a two-part Early Commercial-style two-story building.[7]

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "Rig Theater in Wink, Texas". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  3. "The Rig Theater in Wink, Texas". Texas Escapes. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  4. Roger Marvin Olien; Diana Davids Hinton (1982). Oil booms: social change in five Texas towns. University of Nebraska Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8032-3550-2.
  5. Mark Stuart Spicer; John Rudolph Covach (2010). Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. University of Michigan Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-472-03400-6.
  6. Jimmy Patterson (15 February 2009). "Roy Orbison: Wink residents perpetuate the Orbison legacy". MRT. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  7. Walter Quigley Thomas, Jr. (October 2002). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Rig Theater". National Archives. Retrieved April 19, 2018. (Downloading may be slow. ) With three photos.
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