New Roxy Theater

Name: New Roxy Theater

Location: Clarksdale, Mississippi

Goal Areas: Jobs

William Laidlaw & Robin Colonas, New Roxy owners

While traveling through the Mississippi Delta on vacation, Seattle native Robin Colonas made an unexpected stop in Clarksdale, Mississippi that would change her life. While touring the town, she came upon a crumbling building with a rusting marquee. The New Roxy Theater sat empty for years, and where others had regularly passed it by as the ceiling collapsed and nature reclaimed its walls, Colonas saw something different. She saw her future.

Colonas decided to purchase the theater that once served as a source of entertainment and employment for the African-American community in Clarksdale. And with the help of her husband William, who also agreed to relocate, along with Southern financing, she is now giving the theater new life as an open-air music venue that not only showcases the building’s rich history, but also serves as an economic driver for the community.