Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on GSB’s proposal to rent and renovate what was formerly Varsity Theater. The second part will focus on the outstanding issues that left the senate delaying the vote for another week — to Wednesday night’s meeting.

Ian Ringgenberg, graduate student in interdisciplinary graduate studies, remembers the Varsity Theater fondly.

“My freshman and sophomore year, that was what you did,” Ringgenberg said. “I saw ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ there. I saw ‘Shawshank Redemption.’”

After Cinemark vacated the space in January 2009, the building sat empty for months. That got Ringgenberg thinking.

“I walked by one day and saw that the Varsity was closed,” Ringgenberg said. “I was really just kind of heartbroken.”

Through the Campustown Student Association, he connected with Tom Danielson, senior in civil engineering and Government of the Student Body finance director, who had similar feelings about the theater.

The two looked at options for revitalizing the Varsity, took tours of the property and did some estimating on whether they thought they could get an initiative off the ground.

“Once we found all that basic information, we just kind of determined that it was actually feasible, as a student initiative, to do,” Danielson said.

At first, Ringgenberg said many viewed the proposal as a shot in the dark.

“No one really took us seriously,” Ringgenberg said. “No one really thought that this would happen. People were just kind of playing along, for the time being.”

So the two began gathering information, and the GSB set up a task force to explore the idea. Without experience in the movie theater business, it was sometimes hard to know where to start.

“When we’re looking for a screen, I’m googling ‘movie theater screen,’” Ringgenberg said. “We did get in contact with a theater owner in Des Moines. They pointed us to a few kind of regional resources.”

Student Activities Center staff also helped the task force formulate their budget, said George Micalone, director of student activities.

Micalone has previous experience working with a film program at the University of South Carolina, and said such programs are somewhat widespread.

“Many universities show movies on campus in the same format as they’re proposing for Cyclone Cinema,” Micalone said. “What’s common is to show second-run films on campus. What’s uncommon is to have a consistent space and consistent schedule.”

In fact, the Student Union Board currently shows films in the Memorial Union, but Micalone said the current setup leaves much to be desired.

“We’re using PowerPoint projectors to project images from a VCR on a screen that’s certainly not made for showing movies,” Micalone said.

Believing their idea represented a step up for the program, multiple task force members set out to spread the word on the project, visiting constituency councils and student organizations to talk about the idea.

“We went wherever we could find,” Ringgenberg said.

The group brought four-question surveys to the meetings, and the input they received from students has helped to shape the final proposal.

“It’s helped us think about this theater and what students will want and what students will use,” Ringgenberg said. “Our Thursday through Sunday schedule comes directly from that. By and far, that’s when students see films.”

In all, Ringgenberg said that he, Danielson and several other task force members have probably spent more than 400 hours on the project.

“One person would be writing a section of the proposal and one person would be getting quotes on projectors,” Ringgenberg said. “Some weeks we’d have five meetings. There are weeks that I spend more time on this than schoolwork.”

Along the way, they’ve come to fully appreciate the impact the theater could have on Campustown, above and beyond that of providing entertainment.

“You’re getting people into Campustown for a reason other than drinking,” Ringgenberg said. “There’s this cultural aspect, when you give students something to care about. People do things over in Campustown that they would never do on campus. They know that [campus] is a place to be taken care of. Campustown, right now, doesn’t have that culture.”

The pair also believes the theater could help to bring Campustown’s business culture back to life.

“It, obviously, would increase foot traffic in the area,” Danielson said. “I see it as a step toward rejuvenation.”

In order for the theater to come to fruition, however, students need to voice their opinions.

“This project relies on the student body support,” Ringgenberg said. “It’s not going to materialize if people don’t stand up and want it to happen. We need everyone to feel a stake in this project.”

If GSB passes a bill to fund the proposal, the task force knows that its job isn’t complete, but Ringgenberg said they are excited to move on to the next step.

“If the senate votes yes on Wednesday, our work is far from done. We’re just getting started,” Ringgenberg said. “We’re ready to put seats and screens in the place, and not just be writing things down on paper.”