Opened in 1921, restored for the next hundred years.
Opening season programming is subject to change.
Opening season programming is subject to change.
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Pick your exact seats on the map, or let us choose the best ones together.
Pre-order concessions and valet with your tickets and save 10%.
Tell us what you need when you book, or contact us from Visit, and our team will follow up before the show.
Doors times are listed on each show page, usually 30 to 60 minutes before curtain. Arrive early to order at the bar and find your seats.
Yes. You choose your exact seats when you buy. Cafe tables at the rear of the balcony seat four, and food can be brought to your table.
Late arrivals are seated by our ushers at a suitable break so the show isn't interrupted.
Let us know what you need when you book or send us a note below. Our front-of-house team will follow up before your visit.
Outside food and drink aren't permitted. Concessions and the bar open with the doors, and you can pre-order with your tickets.
House policies are drafts until the reopening.
History of the Darress since 1921
Private events, group sales, press, questions
The Darress belongs to Boonton. Here's how to be part of its return.
A paid membership for people who plan to be here all season.
Sign up now to hold your place in line. No charge today; we'll contact you when memberships open.
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Pre-purchase now, skip the line at the stand.
Demo checkout — confirms your order without charging a card.
Demo payment — no card is actually charged.
Your order has been placed.
Reserve curbside valet for an upcoming show, or pull up your active reservation.
Tap to add your details
View and present your passes
No reservations yet.
No valet reservations yet.
No orders yet.
Get to the Darress
History & fun facts
Rentals, press, sponsorship
615 Main Street, Boonton, NJ 07005
12 min from I-287
Reserve curbside
Boonton Line to Boonton
From Main St. parking
100 block of Cornelia Street · municipal lot
Behind the 800–1000 blocks of Main Street · municipal lot
Town lots charge 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday (excluding holidays), so evening and Sunday shows park free. Source: Boonton Town Code, Chapter 201.
In December 1919, Boonton architect and inventor Clair Darress bought a lot on Main Street, next to the public library, to build a fireproof theatre. Built of reinforced concrete, the Darress opened on June 30, 1921 with the silent film “Lying Lips,” and spent its early years presenting vaudeville and moving pictures to about 900 seats.
In 1927 it was leased to the Boonton Amusement Corporation and renamed the State Theatre, reopening on September 12, 1927 with “The Yankee Clipper” and the Dover Citizens Band. Sound for talking pictures arrived in 1929, and the State stayed a movie house through the 1940s and 1950s.
After closing in the late 1970s, it was taken over in 1980 by a private owner who restored the Darress name and used it for everything from film to children’s theatre. The Town of Boonton bought the building in 2020. It is eligible for the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, and the restoration plan calls for roughly 450 to 550 seats.
The stage sits at the Main Street end and audiences enter beneath it, with the auditorium stepping down the slope behind. It is believed to be one of the last remaining reverse theatres in the country.
Darress chose reinforced concrete in the years after deadly theatre fires like Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre in 1903, when fire safety was reshaping how theatres were built.
The doors opened on June 30, 1921 with “Lying Lips.” The theatre made the front page of the local paper.
In April 1935 the State invited parents to bring their children to meet Zip, a live baboon on display in the lobby, to promote the film “Baboona.”
That was the headline of a three-page feature on the State in the October 9, 1943 issue of Boxoffice magazine.
The house originally had a pipe organ for silent films, and bringing one back is among the ideas raised in restoration planning.
History from the Darress Theatre Preservation Master Plan (Mills + Schnoering Architects for the Town of Boonton, 2024) and Morris County Historic Preservation records.
Boonton was founded as an ironworking town in the 19th century, its early economy built around the Morris Canal and the Boonton Iron Works. The town's Main Street historic district, where the Darress still stands, dates largely to this industrial era, and many of its original storefronts and facades remain intact today.
As manufacturing declined through the 20th century, Boonton reinvented itself as a walkable downtown of independent shops, restaurants, and civic life, anchored by landmarks like the Darress. The theatre's reopening is part of that same continuing story: a 19th-century mill town finding new purpose for its historic core.
The Town’s preservation plan keeps what makes the Darress the Darress and fixes what it needs to welcome audiences again:
The Town of Boonton buys the Darress.
Mills + Schnoering Architects begin the Master Plan and Concept Design.
Found eligible for the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. Morris County awards $44,400 for the preservation plan.
Preservation Master Plan completed. Morris County awards $106,450 for construction documents.
Design, construction and fundraising.
The lights come back on.
Saw a movie at the State? Worked the projector? Had a first date in the balcony? Your stories become part of the reopening.
Restoration details from the Darress Theatre Preservation Master Plan (2024) and Morris County Historic Preservation.
Rentals, private events, group sales, press, sponsorship, or general questions. The Darress team typically responds within two business days.
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Present this pass at the door. Simulated ticket — not valid for entry.
Sign in to manage pricing, shows, and seating.
Sign in to take Food, Valet, or Box Office orders. This login only opens point-of-sale screens, not pricing, menu, or show settings. No credentials required for testing.
Pick a register to start taking orders.
Take a concessions order at the counter
Check a car in, mark it retrieved, take payment
Sell a ticket at the door
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Check a car in at the curb. This does not take payment yet.
Use the number printed on the valet ticket. All three parts carry the same number.
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Sell a ticket at the door. No card processing, this logs the sale only.
No sales logged yet this session.
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Set per-zone prices for Orchestra, Balcony, and Cafe Tables
Add, edit, or remove performances and showtimes
Manage seat map layout and hold/release seats
Manage valet staff, requests, and reservations
Manage concessions menu, combos, and local partners
Sell tickets at the door
Ticket and food order history for everyone we've seen
Daily totals, category breakdown, cash drawer, per cap
Name and manage physical POS terminals
Log costs with receipts, budget vs actual by category
Talent booking, vendors, contracts, riders, payments
Darress v2.4.1 · Demo · nothing is saved on reload
Multiplier applied to a show's base price for each zone. Guests see these prices on show pages, the seat map and checkout. Set SHOW_PRICES to false in the code to mask them as $XX again.
Edits here update Home, Tickets, and Box Office everywhere at once.
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Edits here update the customer Food screen immediately.
Sell tickets at the door. No card processing — this logs the sale only.
No sales logged yet this session.
Name the physical POS terminals for each register type. Staff pick one of these when signing in, and sales report by station as well as by category.
Attachments stay in this browser session only until the backend exists.
Talent booking and vendor management: contracts, riders, payments, internal ratings.
Every sale on file this session, across seating, food, and valet.
Expected cash on hand from cash-tender sales this date. Does not include a starting float — set one manually against this figure if the drawer was seeded with change.
Everyone with ticket or food order history at the Darress.
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