On Tuesday, December 8, the Williams Center at 15 Sylvan Street will show Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind twice, once dubbed and once subtitled. The listing says the screenings will be "in the Rivoli," which means the auditorium that opened on April 22, 1922.
For much of the last decade, the Williams Center was known as Rutherford's theater that might come back someday. This fall it is already running three programs at once. The historic auditorium hosts a regular film series, a separate Black Box room books touring bands, and a repertory cinema group fills the nights in between. All of it is happening while the redevelopment plan for the site remains a plan on paper.
How the Rivoli Got Here
The building's own history explains why so many neighbors stopped expecting much from it. Here's the short version, from the Williams Center's history post:
- 1922: The Rivoli Theater opens and moves from vaudeville to cinema. Over time it also hosts graduations, concerts and community events.
- 1977: A fire destroys a large part of the theater, and it struggles for years.
- Mid-1980s: Fundraisers and holiday family shows keep it going, and it hosts the Black Maria Film Festival.
- October 2012: The building closes after Superstorm Sandy.
- 2021 onward: The venue's history says Bergen County bought the bankrupt property and then sold it to the developer Native Development, which committed to keeping it an arts center.
The same post makes a point that matters for everything that follows. In the lean years, the steadiest thing happening in the building was movies in the basement. Film kept the place alive when nothing else did, and film is now what brings people back into the main auditorium.
On the development side, the borough's July 2023 redevelopment plan amendment names Native Center Development, LLC as the conditional redeveloper. Its proposal pairs homes and retail with a black-box theater, a cinema complex and the Williams Center Theatre. A 2025 project description from an engineering firm still calls the apartments and retail projected additions and says the plan preserves the historic theater. No construction schedule has been announced publicly, so the calendar below is the version of the Williams Center you can actually go to this season.
The Rivoli Is Back in Use
The clearest sign the old auditorium is working again came in 2025. ProgStock held daily performances in the Rivoli Theater that year and used the separate Black Box for meet-and-greets. This fall the Rivoli runs on a steadier schedule, built around two film series.
Studio Ghibli Tuesdays. The venue advertised Howl's Moving Castle in the Rivoli on Tuesday, October 20. The next one after this post goes live is My Neighbor Totoro on Tuesday, November 10, with a dubbed show at 5:30 p.m. and a subtitled show at 7:15 p.m. Nausicaä follows on December 8, again in two versions. That film has history here. The Williams Center's art-house Tuesdays Meetup group listed Nausicaä on August 4, 2024, and Castle in the Sky a week later on August 11, back when the series was still part of a summer lineup. Two years on, the same film is showing in the room the building is named for.
Rivoli Revival. On Tuesday, November 24, at 7 p.m., Cinema Underground shows the 1925 silent The Phantom of the Opera, with live accompaniment by Brett Miller on the Rivoli stage. On Tuesday, December 22, the series screens short films by Władysław Starewicz from 1925 and 1926. Those films are only a few years younger than the auditorium, which opened in 1922.
The Black Box Books a Different Crowd
The Black Box is the room that draws people from outside Rutherford. Its TicketWeb listings for the next few weeks look more like a city club's than a borough arts center's:
| Date | Show | Time listed |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Emo Night Brooklyn Halloween party | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Gimme Gimme Disco | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Built to Spill with Quasi | 6:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Pierre Bourne | 7:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Verse Presents Santapoolza ugly-sweater show | 6:00 p.m. |
The other November nights are filled too. The Warped Tour Band, Awesome 2, Love in the Club and a Not Okay Presents show take up November 13, 14, 27 and 28.
The billing shows how the room gets booked. The Built to Spill show is presented jointly by the Williams Center and Todd Abramson. Santapoolza comes from a promoter called Verse. With several presenters sharing one room, the calendar has range: an indie-rock double bill one Saturday, a disco singalong the night before, a rap headliner two weeks later.
Cinema Underground Fills the Gaps
Below the headline shows sits a third program. Cinema Underground calls itself a local repertory cinema inside the Williams Center, and it built its summer around four weekly programming blocks, with Japanese animation on Tuesdays. The venue's homepage describes itself the same way. It calls itself an "Artist-Run Arts Center" and lists four uses: concert venue, event space, underground cinema and community gatherings.
On the calendar, the film side carries the Thanksgiving weekend:
- Sunday, November 29: Barry Lyndon (1975) at 7 p.m. and American Psycho (2000) at 7:30 p.m.
- Monday, November 30: Catch Me If You Can (2002) at 5 and 7:45 p.m., and The Unholy Three (1930), Lon Chaney's only talkie, at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m.
That Friday, December 4, the Black Box switches back to music with War On Women and MakeWar at 7 p.m. Across one week, the building goes from a Kubrick costume drama to a 1930 Lon Chaney film to a punk bill.
One December Saturday, Start to Finish
All of this connects best on Saturday, December 5. The Borough of Rutherford lists its Holiday Parade, Village & Tree Lighting that afternoon from 3 to 6 p.m. The Black Box opens for Santapoolza at 6 p.m. The venue lists the lineup as Driveways, Keep Flying, Green Knuckle Material and Roderik.
- 3:00 p.m.: The borough's holiday parade, village and tree lighting begin.
- 6:00 p.m.: The borough event wraps up, and Santapoolza opens at the Williams Center Black Box, 15 Sylvan Street.
- The following Tuesday, December 8: Nausicaä in the Rivoli, in dubbed and subtitled versions.
The rest of December stays busy:
- Thursday, December 10: Shakedown Citi
- Friday, December 11: Bingo Loco presents Name That Song, early and late shows
- Saturday, December 12: Lady Radiator with Helen 55 and Upon Your Dead Body
- Friday, December 18: Bayway's Christmas party with Big Ass Truck
- Wednesday, December 23: Santa Rave
- Saturday, December 26: I Love R+B Dance Party
A Led Zeppelin tribute from Knorrwood is already on the books for January 30, 2027.
What the Calendar Says About the Building
Put the three rooms together and the Williams Center has a full fall without any of the projected apartments, retail or new cinema complex in place. The restored auditorium is being used for weekly film. The Black Box books touring acts through outside promoters. Cinema Underground keeps the repertory side running, the same role basement screenings played when the building had little else. Listings change, so check the Williams Center calendar or the Black Box's TicketWeb page before heading to Sylvan Street. As of this writing, the next date in the Rivoli is My Neighbor Totoro on Tuesday, November 10.
If you live in Rutherford, the Williams Center is one of those places that makes a weekday night feel easy, and Nick follows the Park Avenue area as closely as any listing. If you'd like to talk about this part of town, from what's opening to what's planned for Sylvan Street, reach out to Nicholas Salemme. Let's Connect.
