KiMo Theatre: Fact and Folklore

August 2019 AHS Program

KiMo Theatre Fact & Folklore Book CoverOn Sunday, August 18, at 3 PM, author and editor Jacqueline Loring of the non-profit organization SouthWest Writers will present her new book, KiMo Theatre: Fact and Folklore, about the history of its founding in 1927. The book is a collection of newly-told stories, articles, memoirs, insights, opinions, never-before-heard remembrances, and researched facts about the KiMo Theatre as a performing arts theatre and a movie palace.

In her search for newly-told stories, articles, memoirs, insights, opinions, never-before-heard remembrances, Jacqueline Murray Loring interviewed dozens of past employees, elected officials, performers, and audience members who share stories of the Bachechi family, the theatre’s construction in 1927, the 1977 vote by Albuquerque citizens to buy and preserve the building, the theatre’s closings for renovations, its murals, art, and (disputed) paranormal activity. Loring spent more than a year researching facts about the KiMo Theatre as a performing arts theatre and a movie palace. Included in this collection are first hand remembrances written by people who have developed and nurtured a loving, respectful relationship with the theatre. Some stories are passed-down family folklore and anecdotes that reflect the rich, flamboyant, and diverse cultural life inside the theatre, and the impact the KiMo has had on the lives of the people who have supported it for ninety years. The book is filled with almost a hundred archived and new photographs, some taken by members of SouthWest Writers.

In April 2018, while writing this book, the author and editor Jacqueline Loring said, “The KiMo Theatre is more than a concrete building, more than a performing arts center, and more than a meeting place for friends. The KiMo Theatre is a symbol of the endurance of a dream. It is a living, breathing, growing part of Albuquerque, fully the sum of its historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, and community parts.”

Copies of the book will be available for purchasing from the author at the end of the program.

The program will be held in the Ventana Salon of the Albuquerque Museum at 2000 Mountain Rd. NW in Old Town. Parking is free in the lot south of the Museum. Admission to the Museum and the AHS program is also free.

Photo of Jacqueline Murray LoringJacqueline Murray Loring is a playwright, screenwriter, and poet. She is the 2012 winner of the Doire Press Irish International Poetry Prize for her collection The History of Bearing Children. Also an editor/author, she has contributed to several other books including The Storyteller’s Anthology (2013) and KiMo Theatre: Fact & Folklore (2019), both publications of SouthWest Writers. In June 2019 McFarland Books released her newest project, Vietnam Veterans Unbroken: Conversations on Trauma and Resiliency. You’ll find Jacqueline on her website JacquelineMurrayLoring.com.