Thanks to Steve and Karen Brown, the shows will go on at Ephrata Main Theatre.

The Browns, husband-and-wife owners of Lily's on Main restaurant, this week took over operation of the historic Ephrata theater located beneath their eatery.

The move ends speculation that Ephrata's last remaining movie house might be closing.

"We're just thrilled," Steve Brown said of the new venture. "My wife and I can't believe it all came together."

The Browns plan few changes to the two-screen theater, located in Brossman Business Center, 124 E. Main St.

Ephrata-based D&E Communications owned the building until Windstream purchased the company last year.

In November, Windstream announced plans to move the former D&E headquarters out of the Brossman building and lay off about 70 percent of the work force.

That fueled rumors that the Main, which dates to 1938, also might close.

"There's no way we were going to let that happen," Steve Brown said of the possible closing. "Ephrata's been hit bad enough during this recession with Doneckers closing and D&E being sold."

If the theater also folded, "that just would have been more salt on the wounds from the economy," he said.

In May, Brown expressed interest in taking over the theater lease but was told the operator, Columbia Drive-In Associates, planned to keep running the Main.

"I thought, Oh well, fine. It's all cool," Brown recalled. "I put the idea on the back burner."

But shortly after Thanksgiving, Windstream informed Brown the lease was not being renewed after all. Was he still interested in taking over the Main Jan. 1?

Adding the first-floor theater to his second-floor restaurant was a "no-brainer," Brown said, but the Browns weren't sure they could pull off the deal during the busiest time of the year for Lily's.

In between catering holiday parties and running their restaurant, the couple negotiated a new lease agreement with Windstream, found an agent to supply them with movies and obtained the insurance, health department approvals and municipal permits they needed to take over the theater.

They also learned how to thread a film onto a projector reel, make popcorn, sell movie tickets and set up a computer database for the business.

Despite the hectic pace of the transfer, the transition went off without a hitch.

It helped that the Browns are inheriting a well-run business, Karen Brown said.

"We're not reinventing the wheel here but are taking on something that's really been top quality for some time," she said.

The couple has retained Ephrata Main Theatre manager Bob Winfield and two part-time employees to handle day-to-day operations.

They plan to continue the theater's policy of offering first-run movies suitable for families and "date nights" at $5 per show.

The Browns also plan to work with community theater groups that want to use the Grand Stage, as the Main has done in the past.

But some changes are in store.

Brown — a former drummer with the band The Innocence Mission — plans to bring live music to the 193-seat Grand stage. He wants to book mid-level acts that are too small for American Music Theatre and too big for the Chameleon Club, Brown said.

"We may hold a Saturday matinee, a 7 p.m. movie and a band from Philly at 10 p.m.," he said.

The Browns also plan to offer "dinner and a movie" packages that will likely include ticket discounts for Lily's patrons who catch a flick before or after their meal.

When the Main's current films — "Avatar" and "The Princess and the Frog" — end their run Jan. 14, the Browns will close the theater for a week to clean the carpets and make other improvements before reopening Jan. 22.

Their new venture is a natural, the couple said, because of Steve's close ties to the entertainment industry and Karen's interest in movies — she majored in film at Temple University.

The takeover also assures that an Ephrata landmark will remain in operation for years to come.

The Main Theater originally opened in 1938 and continued to show films until 1990, when D&E purchased the building it was housed in.

The structure was demolished after architectural and engineering studies found it was too deteriorated to be renovated.

D&E built a new headquarters complex on the site with a restaurant and two-screen theater, reviving the Main Theatre name and its original chrome box office, neon lights and other features.

The center opened in 1993, and five years later the Browns opened Lily's — named after their oldest daughter — with Steve serving as chef and manager.

In 2006, they purchased the art deco-themed restaurant, which now employs 25.

Lily's and the Main Theatre have become "anchors" of the Ephrata community, Brown said, and having them run by the same family will assure their future success.

"When you do this for a living, it's not a job, it's a way of life. We live this and breathe this and do this every day," he said.

"Ephrata has a lot to offer, and we want to continue to be a part of that."

bwallace@lnpnews.com