My sister went to see The Fighter last Saturday night at the Park Slope Pavilion on Prospect Park West and she told me that there was a sign on the door of the screening room that said there was no heat inside.

“I had to wear my coat through the whole movie,” she complained.

And that’s just the half of it. With rumors of a bed bug infestation, broken seats, broken seats and more broken seats, the theater is a shadow of the theater it was when it opened up many years ago.

Remember when there was that lovely cafe on the second floor? History. All history.

According to Park Slope Patch, two managers of the theater recently sent an email to Park Slope Parents apologizing for the hideous condition of the theater. The employees have repeatedly asked management to clean things up.

Four years ago the theater was bought by Cinedigm as a place a to test out their high end digital projectors. The managers say the problems are at the corporate level and that there’s not much they can do to improve the situation there.

Here is an excerpt from the letter the managers sent to Park Slope Parents:

Let us begin by sincerely apologizing for the current state of the Pavilion Theater—specifically for the broken seats and the heating problems. This theater holds a special place in our hearts and it pains us every day to see how much it has deteriorated. We, the other managers and the rest of the staff are not oblivious to the apparent problems; rather, we are bombarded by them every day. Unfortunately, until our parent company approves our budget proposals, we are entirely powerless to make lasting improvements. We know that the community wants this theater to be better than it is. We couldn’t agree more. We are both Park Slope residents and this is our neighborhood theater as well, but until our parent company takes action, we are simply confined to our own limitations. It is our job as managers to take responsibility for the physical state of the theater and the performances of our staff. While we maintain the day to day operations of this theater, we can only hope we are given the assistance to fix the bigger problems at hand. We still think this is a great place to see a movie in Brooklyn, but nothing would make us happier than to see this theater improve.

It’s a bold move for the  managers to apologize to the neighborhood. Clearly, they are frustrated by the situation, too, and are being “bombarded” with complaints. In the letter they also attempt to dispel the bed bug rumors.

Regarding bed bug rumors—there is no evidence that we have bed bugs at the Pavilion. However, being a public place and being a movie theater in New York City in particular, there is always a risk of getting bed bugs. That is why we have routine checks and treatments as suggested by the extermination company. It is a major concern, and if bed bugs were ever to be discovered in the theater, we would not sit idly by. The theater would temporarily close while we rectify the situation.