The Michigan Theater is a movie palace in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, right adjacent to the Central Campus of the University of Michigan. It shows independent films and stage productions, and hosts musical concerts. Designed by Detroit-based architect Maurice Finkel and built in 1927, the historic auditorium seats 1610 and features the theater's original 1927 Barton Theatre Pipe Organ, orchestra pit, stage, and elaborate architectural details. It was built for and owned by Angelo Poulos and his heirs and was leased until 1978 to the Butterfield Theatres chain, who managed it along with Butterfield's nearby State Theater. Both theaters are now owned and managed by the non-profit Michigan Theater Foundation. History The Michigan Theater opened on January 5, 1928, and was at the time the finest theater in Ann Arbor. The theater not only showed movies, but also hosted vaudeville acts, live concerts, and touring stage plays. Over the years, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Paul Robeson, and Ethel Barrymore all appeared at the theater. During a renovation in 1956, many of the original ornate designs were destroyed. After a period of low attendance, the theater was threatened with demolition when its 50-year lease to Butterfield Theatres ran out in 1978, but members of the community and local organists helped raise funds to save and renovate the theater, returning it to its original design. A second screen, the Screening Room, with a state-of-the-art sound system, seating for 200, and the ability to project films digitally, was added in 1999. The Michigan Theater is the current home of the annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Ann Arbor Concert Band. The theater has been named the 2006 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theaters. The theater also hosts a series of children's stage productions entitled "Not Just For Kids" and a concert series entitled "The Legends of Rock & Roll." Barton Organ The Barton Opus 245 theatre pipe organ was built for the Michigan Theater and installed in November 1927, shortly before the theater was opened on January 5, 1928. Of some 7,000 theatre organs collectively built by many companies between the mid-1910s and the early 1930s, the Michigan Barton is one of only about 45 remaining in their original locations. It has three manuals (keyboards) and thirteen separate ranks of pipes, while other area Barton organs of the time have or had ten