On a Monday at the end of August, Jeremy Clubb was handed the keys to the old movie theater at Salem Center. Cinebarre had been closed since Regal left in May 2025. "It's kind of surreal. I don't know if it's quite hit me yet," he told Salem Reporter the week before.
Clubb is a Salem native who says he has wanted to start a theater company since the third grade. He founded the nonprofit Wandering Players Theatrics in 2025. The building it moved into at 501 Marion St. NE has seven auditoriums and 38,000 square feet. Today it goes by Venture Hall.
Venture Hall is filling the building in stages, and each stage leans on the audience the one before it built up. The company's first musical grew the same way before it ever had a home.
A Show That Outgrew Two Stages First
Evil Dead The Musical came to Salem before Venture Hall existed. Clubb first staged it in 2024 at Chemeketa Community College, where it drew about 900 people. In 2025 it moved to the Grand Theater and drew about 1,300. This fall is its third run, and the first in a building its company runs.
That growth from one year to the next explains why Clubb picked this show to open the main stage. "'Evil Dead The Musical' is not necessarily incredibly well known, but it has a cult following, and that cult will absolutely support where it goes," he told Salem Reporter. A show whose audience has already followed it across town twice takes some of the risk out of opening a new venue.
The company also pays its actors, which many community theaters do not. Wandering Players gives cast members a stipend. "Sometimes a big barrier to being able to be in a show is, 'I can't even afford gas to go to rehearsals,'" Clubb told the paper. Auditions in late August were open for up to 10 roles.
What Regal Left Behind
Wandering Players got a big building with very little in it. "Cinebarre definitely just picked up and left. They took all the screens and all the projectors and stuff," Clubb told Salem Reporter, though he also called the space "very move-in ready." The planned work includes new carpet, fresh paint, and electronics in some of the auditoriums. One of the first jobs was building the main stage itself.
The nonprofit is raising $50,000 to cover renovations and operating costs. Seven auditoriums are more than one company can fill. Wandering Players plans five productions a year in the main auditorium, and the other rooms and the lobby are rented out for plays, concerts, markets and other events.
That rental model is why the calendar looks the way it does. Most nights at Venture Hall are someone else's event under Venture Hall's roof.
How the Opening Has Unfolded
Each step has been a little bigger than the one before:
- Late August 2026. Clubb gets the keys to the empty theater.
- September 25. The first public event, a Storybook Character Adventure, according to the Cherry City Chronicle.
- October 6. The first monthly open mic: free, all ages, music and poetry from 7 to 10 p.m.
- October 23. Evil Dead The Musical opens as the venue's first full production.
- Late October and November. Thursday trivia is already on the calendar by October 29, and Wednesday comedy starts November 4, alongside the musical's final weekends.
- December. Holiday events from outside organizers fill the calendar.
- March 2027. Clubb has said he is eyeing a comedy for the next Wandering Players production.
The lobby is part of the plan too. Wandering Players describes a restaurant and gathering space for that area, and the August reporting called it a steakhouse-style restaurant. For now, a December event listing says food and drink will be sold through Venture Hall.
Evil Dead's Last Two Weekends
As of Thursday, November 5, six performances remain: November 6, 7 and 8, then November 13, 14 and 15.
General seating costs $25. The $40 seats are in what the show calls the splash zone, where the audience gets sprayed with fake blood. The show's own listing promises, in all caps, "you're going to get bloody." If you'd like to go home in the clothes you arrived in, buy general seating.
Ticket availability has changed during the run, so check the show's event page or Press Play Salem's series listing before you head downtown.
The Nights That Repeat
Once Evil Dead closes, the regular weeknight series are what keep the doors open between bigger events. Here is the weekly and monthly schedule:
| Night | Series | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesdays | Bricked Up Comedy | Started November 4. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. |
| Thursdays | Trivianaut Trivia | Weekly through November and December, including November 26 and December 24 and 31 |
| First week of each month | Open Mic | Free, all ages, music and poetry, 7 to 10 p.m. The December date is listed as December 1 in one place and December 2 in another, so check the venue calendar. |
Trivia falls on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year, and all three dates are on the series schedule. A free open mic and a weekly comedy night cost little to put on and give people a reason to come back every week, which matters for a venue that is still raising money for its renovations.
Booked Through December
These are the events from outside organizers. Together they show the rental model working:
- Friday, November 6, 7 to 9 p.m. Light Treason's Ghost Light Explained. Admission is $5, or free if you bought merchandise at the group's October 16 show. It runs the same night as an Evil Dead performance.
- Sunday, November 15, noon to 1:30 p.m. Teasin' Up! Drag Brunch, hosted by LyLac. It's a new series that will run on the third Sunday of every month. Tickets are $15 plus a service fee. Evil Dead closes that evening.
- Saturday, November 21, 1 to 6 p.m. The Art Affair, with local art, vendors, live piano, Feel Trip improv and an art auction. RSVP through the venue's event page.
- Wednesday, December 2, 6 to 8 p.m. Nita And Media LLC's Holiday Networking and Fundraiser. Admission is $10 and includes appetizers. Alcohol is sold separately.
- Friday and Saturday, December 11 and 12. A Christmas Carol Cocktail Experience, with several sessions each night and four holiday cocktails.
- Sunday, December 20, noon. Teasin' Up! Drag Brunch is back for its third-Sunday date, $15 plus a service fee.
Some of these groups had performed elsewhere before. Light Treason, for example, offers free admission to people who bought merchandise at its October 16 show. Venture Hall is where groups like this can book a room now. Clubb told Salem Reporter that Salem has many growing artists and local groups but not enough affordable places to perform and gather. The December calendar suggests he was right.
Planning a Night Downtown
Venture Hall is inside the Salem Center mall at 501 Marion St. NE, in the space Cinebarre left. Each event lists its own times, and prices and dates can change, so the Venture Hall events page and Press Play Salem's venue calendar are the best places to check before you go.
The next big date on the main stage is the comedy Clubb is eyeing for March 2027. The Wednesday comedy and Thursday trivia nights will keep running until then.
New venues like Venture Hall change what an ordinary weeknight looks like in a downtown, and those are the kinds of local changes I like to keep up with across the Willamette Valley and the Oregon Coast. If you want to talk about what's opening near you, or what daily life looks like in different parts of Salem, I'd love to hear from you. Vanessa Corder is always happy to share what's happening around town. Let's Connect.
