Art houses & film societies / Downtown Traverse City
State Theatre
Traverse City's single-screen downtown movie palace, where more than 2,000 fiber-optic stars recreate Northern Michigan's August night sky on the ceiling. Indie films, $1 Saturday kids' matinees and TCFF Tuesdays.
Quick facts
- Opened
- 1949
- Architect
- Michael Fitzhugh (per Cinema Treasures)
- Style
- Art Deco
- Seats
- 527
- Screens
- 1
- Resident companies
- Traverse City Film Festival
- Formerly
- Built on the site of the Lyric Theatre (1916)
What makes it special: Atmospheric starry ceiling with more than 2,000 fiber-optic lights mapped to the August night sky over Northern Michigan; balcony (stairs only); infrared sound amplification headsets; Sony Access captioning and audio-description glasses; Contacta InfoLoop hearing loop on the main floor.
01 / Now showing
Now showing
Announced lineup
What the venue announced on its own site when we last checked (2026-09-26). Click through for exact times and tickets.
02 / The story of this place
Make time for these
The State Theatre opened on June 30, 1949 on the site of the Lyric Theatre, which Julius Steinberg had opened on July 4, 1916. It closed as a movie house in 1996, got cleaned up for the 2005 film festival and reopened on November 17, 2007 as a year-round art-house cinema led by Michael Moore, run largely by volunteers. Its twinkling ceiling maps the August night sky over Northern Michigan with more than 2,000 fiber-optic stars. The nonprofit Traverse City Film Festival owns and operates it. Today it shows new independent releases, $1 kids' matinees every Saturday at 10 a.m. and the weekly “TCFF Tuesdays” series that replaced the summer film festival.
- Starry ceiling with 2,000+ fiber-optic lights
- $1 kids' matinee Saturdays at 10 a.m.
- TCFF Tuesdays: Sept. 29 – Dec. 15, 2026
Plan your visit
It's at 233 E Front St in downtown Traverse City; call (231) 600-7272. The Larry C. Hardy Parking Garage (303 E State St) is a block away, and Front and State streets have three-hour meters. The balcony is stairs only; the main floor has wheelchair spaces and a hearing loop.
Ticket prices
Kids' matinee every Saturday at 10 a.m.: $1.
Accessibility
Accessible main entrance, wheelchair spaces with companion seats on the main floor, accessible unisex restroom; balcony reachable only by stairs; hearing loop, infrared headsets and Sony Access glasses.
Parking
Larry C. Hardy Parking Garage (303 E State St), one block away; three-hour meters on Front and State streets.
A closer look
Cinemas nearby
Back to cinemas ↗Multiplexes / Traverse City
AMC Classic Cherry Blossom 14
A 14-screen multiplex on Traverse City's south side with about 3,000 seats, a 485-seat large-format auditorium, and beer and wine at the concession stand.
Film festivals / Traverse City
Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF Tuesdays)
Founded in 2005, the Traverse City Film Festival filled downtown every late July for years. Now it runs year-round as TCFF Tuesdays at the State Theatre: 52 films in 52 weeks.
Drive-ins / Honor
Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre
A 1950s-themed drive-in in Honor, deep in Northwest Michigan's cherry country, since 1953. Always a double feature, vintage cartoons on 35mm, and sound from the original tube-amp speaker posts.