Become an Empire Insider
Presales, show announcements and exclusive offers, straight from the box office.
You are on the list
Watch your inbox for presales and announcements.
Since 1938
The McCarthy Theatre opens
Front Street gets a stage of its own. The McCarthy Theatre opens as a home for both feature films and live performance, and for a generation it is where Belleville goes out.
The final curtain
After 24 years of pictures and performances, the McCarthy goes dark. The marquee dims, and the grand old room on Front Street falls quiet.
A second life in retail
The building becomes Stephen Licence Ltd., a sports and hobby store. Owner Gerry Bongard changes remarkably little, leaving the theatre interior intact in the hope that one day it would be a theatre again.
A musician buys a theatre
Mark Rashotte, a professional musician who spent years touring theatres across Canada and the northeast United States, purchases the McCarthy building with a vision: a state of the art venue for live performance in downtown Belleville.
The Empire opens its doors
On September 13, 2003, after extensive renovations that preserved the heritage architecture, the Empire Theatre welcomes its first audience. The room Gerry Bongard protected finally hears applause again.
The show goes on
The Empire hosts national and international touring artists year round and stages the annual Empire Rockfest, all from the same Front Street address where the story began in 1938.
Be part of the next chapter
Eighty years of showtime and counting. Find your night at the Empire.
See What Is On