Bama Theatre

The Bama Theatre is an atmospheric 1938 movie palace on Greensboro Avenue, now Tuscaloosa's main performing arts venue. The building's Spanish Colonial Revival interior — barrel-vaulted ceiling, ornate plasterwork, and warm lighting — was designed to transport patrons from Depression-era Alabama into something altogether more glamorous.

The theatre presents live music, film screenings, and community events year-round. Check the local listings for what's on. The building is worth seeing even if nothing is scheduled — the lobby and auditorium can often be viewed outside of performances.

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The Bama Theatre opened in 1938 as a movie palace in the atmospheric Spanish Colonial Revival style. It survived the downtown decline of the 1970s and 1980s — narrowly, and only through the efforts of local preservationists who converted it into a performing arts center. The painted ceiling and ornate proscenium arch are intact. It is one of the best surviving examples of a small-town American movie palace in the South.

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